During the 2004-2005 hockey season, in what would’ve been the NHL’s 88th season, the league canceled the season over a labor dispute. Most fans are well aware of the immediate effects the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the players had on the ice, but it has benefited certain teams more so than others.
For starters, the agreement put an official termination to tie games. Should a regular season game end in a tie, players will engage in four minutes of 4-on-4 hockey. If both teams fail to score, the game will continue on into a shootout until one team wins. This has pitted several skilled shooters against some of the league’s worst goalies and vice-versa. During the great games, the best face off against the best.
Out of the 1,714 post-lockout regular season overtime games, 957 of them went into a shootout. The New York Rangers hold the title for most shootouts with 77, of which they have won 46. Interestingly, the decisive shootout rule has both helped and hurt them.
During the 2008-2009 playoff run, the Rangers secured the 7th seed in the East because they finished the regular season with 95 points, 20 of which resulted from the 16 shootouts they faced. These extra opportunities to win points from shootouts are helpful to a team that is so jam-packed with stars–Dubinsky, Gaborik, Drury and Callahan, to name a few. These players know how to put pucks in the net and, come game time, execute shootout plays precisely.
(Gaborik is an elite scorer when he's not on the IR)In the 2009-2010 season, the Rangers only partook in seven overtime shootouts. Had they been able to rack up more points through shootout wins, they may have passed the Bruins and made it into the playoffs.
This year, they finished 8th with 93 points, winning nine of the 12 shootouts they played. Unfortunately for the team in blue, playoff hockey separates the men from the boys. If a game goes to overtime in the playoffs, it goes to overtime until somebody scores. Two of the five games played during this postseason against the Washington Capitals went into overtime. The redshirts took them both and sent the Rangers home. Meanwhile, Ovechkin’s getting ready for round two while driving around in a black gunmetal Mercedes with the license plate: AOGR8. Seriously.
Another rule change was the legalization of the two-line pass (aka the long pass). The center redline had previously been regarded as the referees’ guide to calling icing and offsides. After the lockout, the league granted players permission to start making passes from their defensive zone all the way to their opponent’s blue line. With that restriction gone, the speed of the game increased and play began to increase on both ends of the ice, as opposed to muddling in the center. The NHL emphasis on keeping the pace of the game high has given players on the shorter end of the stick a chance to shine. Since the lockout, more and more small players have proven key ingredients to their teams’ success.
Furthermore, referees began enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for any hooking, slashing, holding, crosschecking, tripping and interference. In an effort to cut down on fighting, which slows down the fast-paced rhythm of ice hockey, players had to player smarter hockey to abide by the new no-contact standards. There was suddenly more room than ever on the ice, and the little guys are the ones making the plays happen. Coaches have begun taking notice, with the Buffalo Sabres picking up 5'5" Nathan Gerbe, who has been extremely clutch in scoring game-winning goals, and the Chicago Blackhawks number one draft pick of 5'10" Patrick Kane in 2007, the player who scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal to beat the Flyers in overtime of game six last year.
(When he's not fighting cabbies, Kane's can drive the scoring upward for the Hawks)Another outcome of the lockout was the introduction of a team salary cap. Prior to 2006, payrolls were unrestricted, allowing the richest teams to spend as much as they had on whomever they wanted. The new rule was that team payroll could not exceed $39 million. The NHL also adopted a league-wide revenue collection, in which the top ten teams contributed a portion of their revenues to small-market team, with all of the teams splitting the playoff revenues. Since its establishment, revenue sharing has provided many smaller teams with additional proceeds. During the season immediately following the lockout, Forbes reported that the revenue sharing system was the only reason that the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, and Buffalo Sabres all posted profits. The day the players' union and owners reached an agreement, coaches scrambled to keep their rosters under the salary cap. Edmonton picked up Chris Pronger, the Senators nabbed Dany Heatly, and the Thrashers acquired superstar Marian Hossa.
The next two rules enforced directly affected goalies. First, the size of all goaltender padding, blockers, gloves and jerseys were all reduced. This, however, hasn’t affected much of the goaltending statistics, further proving that being a good goalie is more about being a good goalie and less about the equipment. The second ruling restricted goalie puck control to a small, specified area to encourage players to forecheck more. That too, although frustrating to both goalies and defensemen, has proven to have little consequence on the number of goals scored.
For entertainment purposes, the NHL restructured its schedule to increase divisional rivalries.
(Because images like this are a bad thing?) Each team plays eight games against its divisional opponent, four games against each team in the rest of its conference, and 10 inter-conference games. Not only has it cut back on team travel, but it has also increased fan engagement.
- Oritt Blum
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