How The NHL’s New Rule Changes Will Affect The Detroit Red Wings

The NHL has decided to implement some new rule changes for the upcoming NHL season and we are going to take a look at a few of them and how them could impact the Detroit Red Wings during the season.

One of the NHL’s worst rules since the lockout, the trapezoid, has gotten slightly less awful.

"Rule 1.8 – Rink – Goalkeeper’s Restricted Area"

"The trapezoid will be expanded by two feet from the goal post on both sides of the net."

This means that there will be more room behind the net for the goaltenders to play the puck. I am surprised they did not just get rid of it altogether because of how terrible this idea was when it was brought in, but it give the offense a slight advantage and the NHL needs more goals, according to them, and they are will to sacrifice the defensemen to do just that.

The rule change will not help or hurt Detroit because Jimmy Howard is not a good puck mover – watch him give up a goal trying to play the puck – and Jonas Gustavsson is not much better. When Petr Mrazek gets his chance to stay in the NHL the increased room could help because he likes to play the puck from time to time.

"Rule 23 – Game Misconduct Penalties"

"A new Game Misconduct category will be created. Clipping, charging, elbowing, interference, kneeing, head-butting and butt-ending move from the general category into the same category as boarding and checking from behind (“Physical Fouls”), whereby a player who incurs two such game misconducts in this category would now be automatically suspended for one game."

If Justin Abdelkader plays like he did with Team USA during the World Championships with Detroit this season, then he could become quite familiar with this rule.

"Rule 24 – Penalty Shot"

"The ‘Spin-O-Rama’ move, as described in Section 24.2 of the 2013-14 NHL Rule Book, will no longer be permitted either in Penalty Shot situations or in the Shootout."

The end of an era in hockey has come. There will be no more Todd Bertuzzi spin-o-rama goals, but the NHL was having a problem deciding whether puck was still in motion forward, while being moved backwards. See how confusing that sounds? This removes all doubt with that and it is not like fans in Detroit will be seeing any spin-o-ramas from Todd Bertuzzi this season anyway, since he is an unrestricted free agent.

"Rule 57 – TrippingThe rule relating to “Tripping” will be revised to specifically provide that a two-minute minor penalty will be assessed when a defending player “dives” and trips an attacking player with his body/arm/shoulder, regardless of whether the defending player is able to make initial contact with the puck.But, in situations where a penalty shot might otherwise be appropriate, if the defending player “dives” and touches the puck first (before the trip), no penalty shot will be awarded. (In such cases, the resulting penalty will be limited to a two-minute minor penalty for tripping.)"

No longer does touching the puck before you slide into a player make you immune from penalty calls. This will cut down on the amount of players that slide into the boards because of defenders sliding into their legs, but it could increase the amount of hooking or slashing calls.

There is no safety net for the defensemen anymore, now if they get caught out of position they will be stuck in no-mans land.

"Rule 64 – Diving / Embellishment"

"The supplementary discipline penalties associated with Rule 64.3 (Diving/Embellishment) will be revised to bring attention to and more seriously penalize players (and teams) who repeatedly dive and embellish in an attempt to draw penalties. Fines will be assessed to players and head coaches on a graduated scale outlined below."

"Incident #Player Fine(s)Head Coach Fine(s)1WarningN/A2$2,000N/A3$3,000N/A4$4,000$2,0005$5,000$3,0006$5,000$4,0007$5,000$5,0008$5,000$5,000"

I believe there was only one embellishment penalty call against the Detroit Red Wings last season, so this rule will not directly affect them, but it would cut down on the amount of calls that go against Detroit due to another player embellishing a call.

I am surprised they did not go a step further and say that if a player is called for embellishment, then the other player’s penalty will be negated. If this rule does not cut down on the amount of embellishments, then they might move to that plan.

"Rule 84 – Overtime* Teams will switch ends prior to the start of overtime in the regular season.* The entire ice surface will undergo a “dry scrape” prior to the start of overtime in the regular season.* The procedure requiring the head coach to submit a list of the first three shooters in the shoot-out has been eliminated."

Doing a long change for overtime could help more games end before the shootout because a team could get trapped on the ice with tired players on the ice, the dry scrape will help cut down on the amount a snow on the ice before the overtime begins, and eliminating the list of shooter for the shootout is nice because if allows the coach to have more flexibility with his second or third shooter.

As long as the refs do not blow their whistle halfway through the overtime period while Henrik Zetterberg is skating up ice with the puck by himself, then I think these changes are good for the game.

These were just some that suck out and could impact the Detroit Red Wings next season. For the full list visit NHL.com.