[klayman]

Back to the theme of fixing the NHL...

Fixing the grand ole game

Hockey eggheads will meet once gain in hopes of finding ways of making the greatest game on ice even better. Or not.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CP) -- With the NHL's 30 general managers meeting this week to explore ways to open up hockey, talk of `fixing the game' was the overwhelming topic of choice during the weekend's all-star festivities.

Most players, however, sounded less than enthusiastic about making major changes to the game, saying that it isn't quite as bad as everyone is making it out to be.

Then again, they're not the ones paying $150 a ticket to watch dull, defensive hockey.

"I'm a traditionalist," Vancouver Canucks winger Todd Bertuzzi said. "I like the way the game is. I don't want to see a lot of changes."

League commissioner Gary Bettman will also attend the meetings Monday to Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton in Lake Las Vegas with the NHL's director of hockey operations Colin Campbell introducing a full slate of issues for discussion.

Among them:

-- Making the ice surface larger.

-- Reducing goalie equipment.

-- Eliminating the red centre-ice line.

-- Limiting the goaltender's ability to play the puck.

-- Moving the nets back where they were before 1990, 10 feet (three metres) from the end boards instead of 13 feet (four metres).

-- Making the blue-line wider as experimented in the AHL this season.

-- Resurrecting tag-up offsides.

-- Eliminating the instigator fighting penalty.

-- Playing a full two-minute power play regardless of whether a team scores.

And there's more, Bettman said this weekend, pointing to a large black folder every GM will have in their hands.

"Their mandate from me is to take a look at the game and to begin the discussion," Bettman said. "There are a whole list of aspects of the game that they are going to discuss."

The bottom line is to improve a game that has seen a steady decrease in scoring over the last few years.

"People want to see more goals but I wouldn't like 9-8 games. That's too high," said New York Rangers superstar Jaromir Jagr. "I do like the idea to play the full two minutes on a power play, whether a goal is scored or not. I like that a lot. That's the best thing I've heard so far."

Former superstar goalie Patrick Roy raised some eyebrows Sunday with his thoughts on goaltender equipment.

"I may not have a lot of friends after I say this but I think goalies should go back to 10-inch pads," said Roy, referring to today's 12-inch width on pads. "There's no more fear in goalies in today's game.

"The shooter needs to see a bit more of the mesh in the net."

Calls to reduce the size of goalie equipment was not welcomed by the men wearing the mask.

"I don't think they should only look at us as ways to improve the scoring," Montreal Canadiens netminder Jose Theodore said. "I just recommend not to change anything with goalies."

Forget the goalies, said Florida Panthers netminder Roberto Luongo, just call the game by the book.

"The main thing is the trap and the clutch and grabbing," Luongo said. "That slows the game down and brings down scoring."

The elimination of the centre-ice line, seen by some as a measure to open up the ice, wasn't a popular idea with most players this weekend.

"No, teams would adjust, the coaches are too good," Vancouver Canucks captain Markus Naslund said. "It shows in Europe (where there's no red-line). There hasn't been a drastic change in scoring there."

Fellow Swede Daniel Alfredsson, who like Naslund grew up playing without the red-line, also doesn't think it would have much of an impact.

"I don't think that's the key," the Ottawa Senators captain said. "Maybe short term it would open up the game but teams would adjust. In Europe you just move the trap back and you still have problems scoring."

Alfredsson's No. 1 priority would be to drop the two-referee system, a comment echoed by several players over the weekend. He feels the flow of the game would improve when players aren't confused by what two different refs consider to be penalties.

"I think it's easier for one referee to set a standard and the players know what his standard is," Alfredsson said. "You just know what's going to be called."

Never one to hold back with his thoughts on the game, Jeremy Roenick had the most radical idea of making the nets bigger.

"If you increase it by one inch, you'd see more goals," the Flyers centre said. "It wouldn't even be a visual thing for the fans, but to a shooter, it would."

Alfredsson says hockey may just be going through a low-scoring cycle and may come out of it on its own.

"Soccer went through the same problems in Europe a few years ago. People complained there wasn't enough scoring in soccer," he said. "There's always going to be trends in the league. The '80s were high scoring, the '90s were kind of half and half."

The success of the defensive-minded New Jersey Devils is a factor as well, Alfredsson said.

"We need a couple of offensive teams win the Stanley Cup," he said. "When New Jersey started playing really well defensively, teams looked at that. It worked. Now everybody knows how to play well defensively."

Philadelphia Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock thinks the situation is not as bad as some think.

"I think everyone wants to make the game better," he said. "But when you start complaining about it so much, everybody thinks there's a lot that's wrong with that, and I don't agree."

The GMs' suggestions this week will be further re-examined this summer by a blue-ribbon panel of hockey experts including coaches, players, media and some GMs.

Any changes must be approved by the league's owners at a board of governors' meeting in September.

I gotta agree with Roenick with making the nets bigger. That will help a lot if they also widen the ice surface and get rid of the space behind the nets. Then we will be back to high flying 80's hockey.