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5 Major Changes That Would Save the NHL

The NHL could use some help. Luckily, Pucks and Pitchforks is here to give them a boost. We make a few major changes that could make the NHL much more entertaining and level the playing field.

By David Holliday

Jun 3, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speaks at a press conference before game one of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 3, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speaks at a press conference before game one of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports / Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
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5. Put in a real safety department.

Sure, this might feel like a shot at the entire NHL safety department and everything they have done in making the NHL a far less safe game even more than the inconsistent reffing. A one-game suspension does not make any player think about what they did, and the $5,000 fine maximum allowed in the CBA is absolute garbage, considering a $1 million player, which is near the league minimum, makes $12,195 per game. On top of that, many repeat offenders don't even get recognized by the league despite all fans seeing it because they were never suspended before when this awful part of the league fines them for headshots. So, how is this fixed?

Any headshot is an automatic three-game suspension; leaving your feet to leap at an opposing player is 2 games automatically, and hitting a defenseless opponent from behind is an automatic 3 games. The one side note that would be needed on this final one is that players who are lined up and committed to a clean hit on the side or front of the player, but the player receiving the hit turns his back at the last second would not be a penalty or suspension. Those who played hockey all know you NEVER turn your back, and this is taught to children, yet NHL players still do it for some reason today, and you have to protect yourself.

Finally, the intent of a hit should be in the decision-making part of suspensions because it is asinine to wait for injuries, very severe life-altering injuries, to occur before something is done about it. No one wants to see a player lying on the ice with his brain scrambled so players throwing out leaping elbows need to be suspended for big numbers of games while people will definitely disagree with this one my counter to that is how would you feel seeing that leaping Trouba Elbow land on a guy like Jack Hughes or Connor McDavid hockey fans? Or a borderline AHL guy plastering a young star like Wyatt Johnson or Cale Makar right in the numbers to hit his head into the boards. Sending a message right away to these kinds of plays before a massively dirty and bad nonhockey play could stop a tragedy.

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