REPORT: Gary Bettman suggesting rule change that will get RID of powerplays!

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Ryan
November 29, 2022 (8:30 PM)

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Long gone are the days of the trap game and dead-puck era, we are now in a new era of the National Hockey League, and this new era loves offence and scoring goals!

The league is always trying to come up with new ideas on how to increase the offence in the league, whether that be reducing the size of goalie equipment, or allowing teams to choose where they want to have a faceoff on a powerplay.

Last week the NHL had their General Manager's meetings and the NHL proposed a rule change that could almost get rid of powerplays.

NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman shared this info on his 32 Thoughts Podcast:

At last week's GM Meetings, there was a conversation about calling more penalty shots instead of power-plays � something I totally support. That led to another debate among a few of us: should the team that draws the penalty have the option of going on the power-play or taking a penalty shot? Shooters are 5-for- 11 on penalty shots in 2022-23 after goalies stopped 76 per cent of last year's attempts. There are good variables to weigh. Who's shooting? How good is your power-play? Philadelphia GM Chuck Fletcher had a good line, though, saying: «It will be tough to explain to a player if you have a horrible power-play and go that route instead of letting him shoot.

This new rule change could completely eliminate powerplays as teams usually at most have a 30% powerplay, where some players are almost 50% in shootouts.

It would also add a new strategic move to adding players as someone might be brought onto a team specifically for a shootout.

The Washington Capitals once had a 4th liner who was absolutely lethal in a shootout, Matt Hendricks.