Your NEW National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is all new after an offseason which saw the league introduce re-aligned divisions and plenty of new regulations for players to follow. All new divisions are making their debut in the 2013-14 NHL season. There are now two divisions in both the Eastern and Western Conferences. The new alignment was proposed and passed by the league early last season. It creates more convenient schedules for teams that generally play out of their time zones (teams like the Detroit Red Wings or Columbus Blue Jackets were in the Western Conference playing games scheduled for teams in the Pacific time zone). Each team will play divisional opponents either 4 or 5 times (a total of 29 games within the division). Each team will also meet all non-divisional conference opponents 3 times a piece (21 games). The rest of the schedule is made up by inter-conference play. Each team will play every other team outside of their conference twice (one home, and one away game). This is how the NHL managed to create a schedule where every team visits every arena throughout the league.

So how does this impact the playoff picture. The new NHL still stipulates that 16 teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs (8 teams from each conference). The top 3 teams from each division earn an automatic playoff birth. The available two slots will be considered “wild card” spots and will go to the next best two teams in the conference. This will do away with having one weak division supply an average team with the gift of home ice advantage in round 1 of the playoffs (for example in the 2011-2012 the Florida Panthers were ranked 3rd in the conference with 94 points - while the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and New Jersey Devils were ranked 4th, 5th, and 6th, despite having 108, 103, and 102 points respectively). The new playoff structure allows teams to earn their position, and makes those divisional games even more important than previous seasons.

The new divisions have been re-aligned as follows: In the Eastern Conference you have the Atlantic Division (with the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Florida Panthers) and the Metropolitan Division (with the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, and Columbus Blue Jackets). In the Western Conference you have the Pacific Division (with the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, and Vancouver Canucks) and the Central Division (with the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, and Winnipeg Jets).

Going into this season, it would seem the Atlantic Division is going to be the most competitive. Really, the only thing missing from the Atlantic Division is the Chicago Blackhawks, as they are the only Original Six team not playing in the Atlantic Division going forward. There is some bad blood in the Metropolitan Division as well, but the bad blood in the Atlantic Division goes way back to the origins of hockey - and each team (apart from the Florida teams and an anemic Buffalo unit) has made big strides and smart offseason acquisitions. Toronto (who lets not forget were 10 minutes away from closing out the Boston Bruins in round 1 last year) went out and acquired Jonathan Bernier from the L.A. Kings to help solve their goaltender issues. The Bruins themselves got better this offseason by adding Loui Erikkson and Jarome Iginla to the roster. The Ottawa Senators added perennial 40 goal scorer Bobby Ryan to their already speedy offense (and they still have a solid defensive core, and the guy who would have won the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender last year had he been healthy in Craig Anderson). Montreal will keep improving, and then add Detroit into the mix, a team that has made the postseason every year for the last two decades. The Atlantic Division is the most competitive division following re-alignment.

There are some notable new rules coming to the NHL this year as well. Hybrid icing is one of the new rules being tested this preseason. Injuries that occur on races to the puck are rare, but the race itself is dangerous. Often when injuries do occur, the results can be ugly. Usually, there are some broken bones, Joni Pitkanen of Carolina sustained a broken ankle, in the same breath Kurtis Foster of Minnesota and Eric Nystrom of Edmonton broke their femurs, all in an effort to beat an opposing player to the puck on a delayed icing call.

Check out some of the video on icing injuries:

Joni Pitkanen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_AKXJVsGaY
Kurtis Foster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRwAyABEVBE
Eric Nystrom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHN0Jh8Q0M

Does it benefit the NHL to keep delayed icing calls? Hybrid icing is a different concept. Instead of which player wins the race to the puck, it becomes which player wins the race to the low face-off dot - and similar to the “tie goes to the runner” type deal in baseball, in the event of a tie the defenseman gets the call. However, if the forward has the potential to win a race from a different angle (in other words, not a straight sprint to the backboards taking the same path as the defender to the puck) then it is to the discretion of the referee to call the play in favor of the forward and let the play continue. The ideal result of hybrid icing is to negate unnecessary (often career threatening) injuries. After all, what does the NHL gain by keeping delayed icing? Are hockey fans often finding themselves at the edge of their seats watching a race to beat out an icing? In reality, delayed icing is good for the occasional groan followed by heckling of the referee because the call went against your team. It might take some adjusting to, but delayed icing will quickly become a thing of the past.

There are some new equipment rules for the players as well. Visors will now be mandatory for any player entering the National Hockey League. Beginning this season, any player who enters the league must wear a visor for a minimum of 26 games, then the player is given the option on whether or not they want to wear it. The idea here is to prevent eye injuries - we saw Marc Staal of the Rangers and Sydney Crosby of the Penguins both take pucks to the eye last season. By having players enter the league required to sport the visor for 26 games, the league hopes players will feel comfortable wearing the equipment and will decide to keep it on beyond those first 26 games.

Goalies will have to adjust to new pads this season. The percentages get slightly dizzying on this rule, but it breaks down like this - in the past, the rule on goalie pads was that a pad could not go higher than 55 percent of the distance between the goalie’s knee and his waist. Essentially, if a goalie’s upper-leg measured out to 20 inches, the pad could only rise 11 inches above the goaltender’s knee. The new rule states that the new limit will be 45 percent (which means pads go no higher than 9 inches above the knee for the goalie with the 20 inch upper-leg). So most goalies will lose about two inches off the top of their pads, which will affect how many of them play the five-hole. Butterfly goalies might struggle more with this equipment amendment, because it is a style that relies on pads big enough to cover the five-hole. Hybrid and stand-up goaltenders will likely have an easier time with the adjustment (although there are not many stand-up goalies left besides Martin Brodeur).

Goalie nets are shallower now, the NHL has taken 4 inches off the back of the net’s frame (the depth of the goal was 44 inches, it has been reduced to 40 inches). What this creates is a bit more room behind the net. Players are going to have a little more wiggle room to create plays from behind the net. Goaltenders will also have a bit more room to work with in the trapezoid (which designates the area behind the net that goalies are allowed to play the puck). However, it’s been on display in the preseason, and some goalies will certainly need to make some slight technical adjustments to play in these shallower nets.

One of the more confusing rules to fans and some players was the decision to enforce a “no-tuck” rule regarding jerseys. Players are no longer allowed to tuck their shirts into the back of their pants (some might remember, it’s how Gretzky wore his uniform). If any player does tuck their shirt in, they will receive warning, if the warning is not adhered to, a 2 minute minor penalty is assessed. Not all players are thrilled about it, in fact, Alex Ovechkin called the rule “stupid” because each player is an individual who should wear the jersey the way they’re most comfortable wearing it. It’s a technical rule that’s actually been around since 1964, which states that all protective equipment (including hockey pants) must be worn underneath the player’s jersey. It seems a petty rule to enforce, but it would be even more petty for a player to take a penalty over a wardrobe dispute.

Something the league decided to change over the summer was video review for high-sticking penalties. Often a high-stick happens fast or amidst a scrum, and referees (sometimes) miss the the call. Video review would have allowed a clear view for referees to resolve missed high-sticking calls - particularly double-minor penalties where a player is cut on the play. The review would have also served to reverse a “bad” high-sticking call, meaning if the ref calls a high-sticking penalty but review shows there was no infraction, the player would not be penalized. Notice how I said “would have”? That’s because a few weeks ago, the league announced that they would not be practicing this new rule, at least not in the 2013-2014 season. Director of hockey operations Colin Campbell reversed the decision due to concerns about goals being scored on delayed penalties. For now, it’s a murky area that the NHL is going to sit back and examine for at least one more season.

You will see a few other changes this season, one of which came in the fighting department. Players who remove their helmets before a fight will now be penalized an additional 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. Again, the league is trying to avoid head injuries here, but there could be an increase in knuckle injuries. Also, players are still allowed to rip the other player’s helmet off during the fight, then continue to pummel them. It’s a practice in reduction of injuries from the NHL. The league also wants to introduce a few more outdoor games to spread that Winter Classic feeling to more areas. The 2014 NHL Winter Classic will be held, as always, on New Year’s Day - the Detroit Red Wings will host the Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium. In addition, the Chicago Blackhawks will host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Soldier Field on March 1, 2014 as the first installment of “The Stadium Series”. The NHL has announced that there will be other outdoor games announced at a later date, but the hope is to have 6 outdoor games every season: a Winter Classic, a Heritage Classic, and four Stadium Series games.

That's your new NHL, everything you need to prepare for that first drop of the puck! The season kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1 - the Maple Leafs will visit the Habs, the Capitals will take on the defending champion Blackhawks in Chicago, and the Winnipeg Jets will meet their new Western Conference rivals, the Edmonton Oilers. DROP THE PUCK, it's time for hockey.


(This article was also published by South Boston Today, see the published version of my article at southbostontoday.com)