What would you do to increase offense?

[darksabre]

But the highest-scoring team in the NHL shouldn't be completely silenced by losing one guy.

He was a massive part of their game this year. They don't even make the finals if he's not there.

[BetweenThePipes00]

I wonder how many goalies would realize a net had been widened by an inch or two, if the league just did it when they were all in bed sleeping?

Seriously. Over the summer, the nets were widened by an inch on each side (2 inches for math challenged lol) and repaint the ice and then see how many knew? 

Most, if not all, would know immediately. Just warming up pushing from one post to the other they would notice something off right away, they have done drills like that thousands and thousands of times. They might not immediately think "The net is bigger!!" because that would be crazy to think but they would know SOMETHING was off, blame their skates or something but then figure it out pretty quick when all their angles were off too.

[Iron Crotch]

There was so much interference occurring in the finals it made Tampa's game largely ineffective. 

 

I watch the Hawks play live a ton since they're in the Preds division.  And, they have mastered the art of the subtle interference play, which is just enough to disrupt the other team, but not enough to draw a penalty.  Toews is the all-time master of the subtle interference play that gives space to a teammate.

 

Penalties are way down in the NHL.  If the refs actually called the game according to the letter of the law it'd help the game tremendously.  More power plays = more goals.

[shrader]

Most, if not all, would know immediately. Just warming up pushing from one post to the other they would notice something off right away, they have done drills like that thousands and thousands of times. They might not immediately think "The net is bigger!!" because that would be crazy to think but they would know SOMETHING was off, blame their skates or something but then figure it out pretty quick when all their angles were off too.

 

I'm with you on this one.  Being as weird as goalies are, I'm sure they'd notice any possible change like that.  Hell, they'd probably notice if the national anthem was 0.5 seconds longer than the night before.

[nfreeman]

Having thought about it a bit more, I think the NHL should probably stay away from a radical new set of rules or enlarged nets, and work on (i) reducing size of goalie pads and (ii) tweaking and enforcing the rules like the NBA and the NFL do.  For example, a couple of years ago, the NBA eliminated hand-checking by perimeter defenders, and it made a huge difference in creating offense.  It wasn't a fundamental change in the rules themselves -- it was more of a decision to identify a specific defensive tactic, start penalizing it consistently, and make all of the players aware that it was going to be enforced. 

 

I think the NHL needs to identify some often-used defensive techniques -- whether it's riding the forward into the boards after a dump-in, hitting forwards in the slot who don't have the puck, or whatever -- and start calling a lot of penalties.

[Hoss]

Having thought about it a bit more, I think the NHL should probably stay away from a radical new set of rules or enlarged nets, and work on (i) reducing size of goalie pads and (ii) tweaking and enforcing the rules like the NBA and the NFL do. For example, a couple of years ago, the NBA eliminated hand-checking by perimeter defenders, and it made a huge difference in creating offense. It wasn't a fundamental change in the rules themselves -- it was more of a decision to identify a specific defensive tactic, start penalizing it consistently, and make all of the players aware that it was going to be enforced.

 

I think the NHL needs to identify some often-used defensive techniques -- whether it's riding the forward into the boards after a dump-in, hitting forwards in the slot who don't have the puck, or whatever -- and start calling a lot of penalties.

This is the biggest but most likely change. You mention riding a guy into the boards after he dumps the puck in - that's already a penalty... They were calling it like crazy post lockout and then just stopped. It's one of the calls they need to start making.

Hitting somebody who doesn't have the puck is also a penalty.

 

It's basically just calling the rules that are already in place and a couple small tweaks (I still think a very slight increase in net size coupled with smaller pads makes sense).

[LGR4GM]

Having thought about it a bit more, I think the NHL should probably stay away from a radical new set of rules or enlarged nets, and work on (i) reducing size of goalie pads and (ii) tweaking and enforcing the rules like the NBA and the NFL do.  For example, a couple of years ago, the NBA eliminated hand-checking by perimeter defenders, and it made a huge difference in creating offense.  It wasn't a fundamental change in the rules themselves -- it was more of a decision to identify a specific defensive tactic, start penalizing it consistently, and make all of the players aware that it was going to be enforced. 

 

I think the NHL needs to identify some often-used defensive techniques -- whether it's riding the forward into the boards after a dump-in, hitting forwards in the slot who don't have the puck, or whatever -- and start calling a lot of penalties.

For the love of god and all things holy, YES.