Around the NHL: GMs Discuss Eliminating Trapezoid/Headshots

With the Rangers being off for their fourth straight day, news has been quite slow, so I thought I would venture off into some league-wide activities this morning. All of the National Hockey League General Managers and their assistants have gathered in Toronto this week to discuss several matters that need to be addressed within the league.

Yesterday, one of the topics of discussion was whether or not to eliminate the trapezoid behind the net, which limits a goaltender from playing the puck. This rule especially has an affect on Martin Broudeur of New Jersey and Marty Turco of Dallas, netminders who include playing the puck as a part of their position.

Here is what the experts had to say about it courtesy of TSN, who was on the scene yesterday, and will be again today.......

Doug Wilson(Sharks GM):

"I don't think there's a great appetite to change it," said Wilson. "And I don't mind that because you've got to be conscious that when you change one thing, it could impact two or three other things. We put it on the agenda, we'd asked to talk about it, just to really spur thought."

Personally, I am in favor the rule for one reason. That reason being that if a goaltender was allowed to roam freely behind his net, it would potentially ruin the forecheck strategies of many teams, including the Rangers. The dump and chase method would be almost ineffective, as goaltenders would simply come out of their crease and play the puck out of the zone. In my opinion, that is the job of the defensemen, not the man between the pipes. Plus the fact that if you barely make contact with the goalie when he is playing the puck behind the net, you will have three guys shadowing you, ready to pounce.

That brings us to the next topic of discussion which will be reviewed in-depth during today's meetings: headshots. Ranger fans are now very well acquainted with the dangerous blind-side hits with Chris Drury suffering from one last Saturday. If you think Drury's was bad, you should watch Mike Richards' hit on David Booth of the Panthers, as it left Booth out cold and being removed from the game on a stretcher.

These types of hits can end a game, a season, a career, or even a life if they are not taken care of sooner rather than later. I believe that suspensions like we saw handed out to Curtis Glencross of the Flames for his hit on the Rangers Captain should become automatic when a player is head-hunting, and that should be accompanied with a game misconduct within the tilt it occurred. People have the nerve to say that some of these checks are "clean". Sorry, I don't buy it. If someone is nailed in the head on an "intentional hit", it is dirty and deserves punishment.

It is one thing if two players are looking in opposite directions and collide like we saw with Brendan Shanahan at Madison Square Garden a few years back, but if one player is vulnerable with his head down or looking another way and the opponent is fully aware that he is heading straight for this guy ready to hit, that is intentional.

Here are some reactions from around the league......

Brian Lawton (Bolts GM):

"I'm more concerned long-term about what's going on," said Tampa Bay Lightning GM Brian Lawton, who recently lost rookie Viktor Hedman to injury after a big hit from Ottawa's Chris Neil.

"I had raised some of the concerns long before Viktor got hurt. So I think it's very timely and I don't want to deviate from that (issue). I'm more interested in the long term, what are we going to do, because it costs the teams a tremendous amount when players are injured. That's the bottom line."

Jim Rutherford ('Canes GM):

"The players are bigger, they're faster, and (the game) happens so much quicker and everything is so much harder (than it used to be)," said Rutherford. "We've got the seamless glass now, I know it's supposed to move a bit, but it doesn't move a whole lot. Everything we have is to better the game, which it has, but it also puts players in a position that they can get hurt more."

I would also imagine that Glen Sather spoke up when this topic was discussed. I know that John Tortorella mentioned earlier in the week that Sather spoke with the league about the hit on Drury, which implies that Slats will make a push to help eliminate ignorant plays like these from the game. And from what I have read above in the quotes from Lawton and Rutherfors, it seems like a majority of the general managers in the league want them gone as well, because it is unfortunate to lose a key player in your lineup to something like this.

Will have updates from Rangers practice later today..........

(Image courtesy of AP Photo)