FTB - Improvement Edition

1. Eliminate shoot-outs. Reinstate the “tie” after a 5 minute overtime. No 3-point games.
2. Expand the league to 32 teams (Hamilton should be one of them) and have 4 equal divisions of 8 teams each. Have a balanced schedule. 16 teams make the playoffs, 16 don’t. Six divisions is stupid, and rewarding the 3rd-seed to a weak division winner fucks up the competitive balance of the playoffs. Sometimes the 2nd best team in the Conference gets the 4th-seed while the 5th best team gets the 6th-seed and gets to play a team with fewer points. Finishing in 6th is usually better then finishing in 5th. That’s retarded. Competitive Integrity in the NHL is a joke.
3. Home teams should wear white. Period.
4. Pay-per-view channels, such as Leafs-TV should be outlawed. Limiting access does not promote the game for future generations, it alienates them, much like “blackouts” did for the CFL. MLSE is profitable enough and there’s only so much change left in my pocket. I work hard for a living. Stop being Pigs. I’ve already vowed not to spend another dime on the NHL, and Leafs-TV is one of the reasons why. Every time they try to shake us down for a little more, another fan becomes determined to give a little less.
5. Force unrestricted free agents like Sundin, Sakic, Niedermayer, Selanne, Forsberg, to declare their intentions by August 1st, or forfeit their eligibility to play for that coming season. It just seems fair. Teams should not be held hostage by dithering megalomaniacs who can’t make up their mind. There’s nothing quite like a hard and mandatory deadline that inspires decision making and action.

Anyone see this article?
THN.com Top 10: Reasons why Mats Sundin isn’t a Hall of Famer

I was 14 years old, at Roger Neilson’s hockey camp in Port Hope, ON. We got called down to the video room to watch the press conference, which was cool.

I actually bumped into Roger himself in the hallway of our dorm and asked him what he thought of the trade. “I think it’ll be good for the game” was his response.

It was certainly good for hockey in California for a while. Not so good in Quebec City or Winnipeg.

Definitely not good for Leaf fans in 1993.

Jared went off script and posted his five ideas on improving the NHL on his own blog. I need Karl Rove to control message…

Sorry but it’s hard to resist pointing out the fact that as long as the Leafs keep BARELY missing the playoffs that change obviously works in our favour.

The idea of letting the team that finishes last grab the top draft pick is because obviously they are the club most in need of improvement. If teams want to race to the bottom to grab the next super-star, they’re only hurting their own bottom line, and anything resembling respect.

I believe it also amounts to match fixing if they are intentionally throwing games, which as far as I know is against the law… i.e. the black sox scandal back in the early 20th century?

Pretty sure nobody is actually going out and breaking the law on this one regularly. If they are, they’re bound to be caught for it eventually.

Read “The Kilger saga” as “the KILLER saga”? That made the resulting link much more interesting, even though it was confusing for a bit.