Playing By the Rules

    

    Your Montreal Canadiens are young, gifted and ready to go. Those who needed summer rest, rested. Those who needed the ice, skated. Everybody worked out, ate well and took a break. Now it's time for the puck to drop and for the team to pick out the pin they put into their progress last spring. 

    Unfortunately, the Canadiens are a special team playing in a less-than-special league and they're dependent on the sometimes-capricious governors of the game to make the rules.The NHL always seems to be tinkering with interpretations of existing regulations and adding new ones. Sometimes it's because there's a glaring need to fix a problem, but other times it seems the brass switches up the rules just because they can.

    This year's changes include the length of the regular season, up to 84 games from 82. While there's certainly no need for NHL veterans to play a bunch of pre-season games, risking injury from overenthusiastic young wrecking balls out to prove themselves, it's helpful to the coaching staff to have those extra early games to assess the prospects properly. Cutting pre-season games to extend the regular season means people like Kent Hughes have to move more quickly with less information than they ordinarily would. 

    The only real benefit of lengthening the season is in the balance it brings to intra-division games. With four against each rival team, the number of points up for grabs from within the division is more equitable. However, the NHL season is already a slog and adding extra games means players have less in the tank when playoff time rolls around. It feels like just another Gary Bettman cash grab.

    Many of the other changes coming this year are the behind-the-scenes type as well. Shorter term lengths on contracts, a tighter rein on signing bonuses (60% max of contract value instead of 90%) and playoff cap compliance (so no more hiding Mark Stone for half the season, Vegas!)

     Those are things affecting the work of management more than players.

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    In terms of what fans and the team will see on the ice, there will also be a few differences this year.

A Good Rule: The only new penalty added to the book is a requirement for new players to wear neck guards. Considering some of the horrendous accidents we've seen in the past, this rule is overdue. Veterans will probably complain they have to get used to them and they're not comfortable, but they said the same things about helmets, visors and goalie masks. It's impossible to imagine the game without those safety features now, and neck guards will go the same way.

    

A Stupid Rule: Other penalties aren't new, but teams have been informed they will be more strictly enforced. The stupidest of these, right up there with the automatic delay-of-game for shooting the puck over the glass, is the "jersey tuck" rule. When a player starts a shift, he cannot have his sweater tucked in. The first one to get called on that in preseason was the Flyers' Trevor Zegras, and in the following pre-season game, half the team tucked their tails in in protest. This is the sort of rule change that, if it ended up costing a team a win...especially in the playoffs...would make the NHL look even more bush-league than it already does. 

 A Fun-Sucking Rule: The saddest new rule is all teams have to keep an emergency backup goalie who travels with them in case one or both netminders gets hurt in-game. No longer will we get to watch the Leafs' own minor-league Zamboni driver beat them. Sure, it's good to prepare for eventualities, but randos suddenly finding themselves playing in an NHL game was one of the goofy joys of hockey.

    The bigger issue for the league going into the new season is dealing with rules introduced in recent years that haven't really worked out as intended. Referees still don't seem to know what goaltender interference looks like. And the offside review is ridiculous, often with play going on...even goals scored...for minutes until the review and the clock gets rolled back. 

    Hits to the head still aren't adequately policed, with inconsistency throwing confusion into an already judgement-based call. There's no doubt it's not easy to manage a game that involves male hormones on turbo boost, but there has to be a better way to ensure players know what to expect from one game to the next.

    Nobody thinks the refs will be perfect, but with a whole slate of brand-new officials about to break into the league, there's hope things will be different this year. The Canadiens are ready for the rules...if the rules are ready for them.