10 things I’d change about the NHL if I were commissioner

The NHL is entering an unprecedented period of growth, as new billion-dollar TV deals, a skyrocketing salary cap, and continued expansion have the league in its healthiest position ever.

So it was no surprise, even amid the painful wounds of past labor disputes, that the league and the NHL Players’ Association ratified a new collective bargaining agreement in July with little animosity between the sides.

While the new CBA, which will go into effect in 2026-27, accounted for several of my biggest issues with the league, including the need to reestablish a consistent schedule of best-on-best international tournaments, changing the long-term injured reserve rules that have been grossly exploited over the past few seasons, and the adoption of a less rigid dress code for players, I still have a few bones to pick with the league. Ten to be exact.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has snarkily made it clear he has no immediate plan to step down, but if he did, here are 10 things I’d change as commissioner:

1. Go back to the old playoff format

The NHL playoffs are among the most exciting events in sports, but they are also existentially flawed. Since revamping the format to a division-based system in 2014, too often the best teams meet in the early rounds and not in the Stanley Cup.

The change, which was designed to manufacture rivalries and create compelling matchups, has instead sucked much of the life and drama from the tournament. While watching Toronto and Boston or New York and New Jersey play in the first round is good for ratings, having perennial Cup contenders like Colorado and Dallas or Tampa Bay and Florida meet in the first round probably isn’t the fairest or best system to determine a champion.

Enough with having the second- and third-best teams in a conference playing each other in Round 1. Let’s go back to seeding 1-8 based on points, as the playoffs should build into a crescendo, not fizzle out with blowout series in the conference finals.

2. Re-centralize the draft

I know I’m far from alone on this one, as this summer’s first decentralized draft fell flat at its best, and was an unmitigated disaster from a television viewing experience at its worst. But it will surprisingly return for another year. Why? NHL teams are cheap and want to save a few thousand bucks on travel and expenses.

If the NHL is truly trying to sell the game and its young stars, a decentralized draft is a missed opportunity, and I know Bettman agrees. Having all the teams in one location, like they were in the past, enhanced the experience for the players being drafted as well as the fans, and also was more conducive to teams making player trades on the floor.

3. Change regular-season OT

I was all for the shootout when the NHL adopted it in 2005-06 after the lockout. Nobody likes ties, and it was a way to try and showcase some of the world-class skills these players possess. But the gimmick has run its course, and the skills competition oftentimes becomes more of a war of attrition, as fans sit through uninspired miss after miss. Fans don’t get excited about it. Players don’t get excited about it. So let’s fix it.

My first suggestion would be to increase the three-on-three overtime to 10 minutes. The AHL experimented with longer overtimes and it resulted in fewer shootouts. Let’s go one step further, though, and add a “halfcourt” rule that prevents teams from regrouping and circling back into their own zone. Wayne Gretzky has advocated for this change, which would prevent teams from just holding onto the puck and encourage more of the up-and-down action that makes sudden-death overtime great.

The NHLPA would likely push back on additional hockey and point to a greater chance of injury due to fatigue and poor ice conditions, but that’s kind of hypocritical given that it agreed to add two games in the CBA.

4. Fix the no-income tax loophole

Two things can be true at once: teams like Florida, Vegas, Dallas, and Tampa Bay have done an excellent job of roster building. Teams like Florida, Vegas, Dallas, and Tampa Bay also have a distinct advantage of playing in no-income-tax states.

Free agents, particularly the ones who make the most money, are always going to look to maximize their earnings, and that will only continue to matter more as player contracts and the salary cap rise. The advantage is particularly unfair when it comes to player retention, as these teams can keep the core players from the championship-level teams at a discount when you factor in the taxes.

It’s no accident that Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, and Aaron Ekblad all returned to Florida on discount deals, or that five of the last six Cup champs reside in no-income-tax states. I don’t want to hear the “well players want to sign there just because the team was good” argument either … look at the free agents who have landed in Nashville and Seattle the past few years.

This is a tricky fix, but the league should consider some sort of fluid cap or another adjustment to even the playing field.

5. Extend power plays at the end of games

This one has irked me for years. Why reward a team for taking a penalty late in a game? If a team gets a penalty with under two minutes remaining in regulation, I think the opposing team should be allowed to play out the full power play or until they score. Too often, a defending team takes an obvious penalty with the goalie pulled to prevent a scoring chance. Make them serve the full time.

6. Incentivize homegrown players

Sure, players can sign for an extra year (currently eight years compared to seven, but it will change to seven and six, respectively, in 2026-27) if they stay with their current team, but is that enough? If we want star players to stay in their markets and build continuity like we so often see in the NBA, let’s incentivize players to stay or give the teams some sort of cap break for players they drafted and developed. Let’s reward teams for drafting and developing well. This would also help some of the smaller markets or less desirable weather cities to retain their players, which would be good for parity.

7. Add a play-in tournament for wild cards

Playoff hockey provides some of the best drama and intensity in sports. So why not mimic the NBA and add a play-in tournament for the last wild-card playoff spot or two?

This format would also be better suited for hockey, where the games are typically more competitive compared to the NBA, where there is a higher likelihood of blowouts and less parity.

Having multiple winner-takes-all playoff games seems like ratings gold and a moneymaker to me.

8. No puck over the glass in the playoffs

I understand the premise of the delay of game penalty for playing a puck over the glass. It is to prevent tired teams from intentionally playing the puck out for a whistle to relieve pressure. But in the sport’s biggest games, an unintentional puck-over-glass shouldn’t decide the outcome.

In the playoffs, when fewer penalties are called, and almost none are awarded in overtime, a penalty for coincidentally playing a rolling or bouncing puck an inch over the glass seems like an exceptionally harsh punishment.

9. Raise the goaltender interference threshold

I’m not advocating for anything like the Hanson Brothers bowling goalies into their own nets in Slapshot, but I do think we need to better define what goaltender interference is and what is permitted incidental contact between a player battling in front of the net and a goalie.

Protecting goalies remains a priority, but we’ve gone too far with this particular rule, and goaltenders are now exploiting it and looking for the most minor contact to try and draw a penalty or get a goal disallowed. Goalies should have to fight through some level of contact to try and save, and a minor brush of a body or a skate slightly grazing a pad should not be grounds to take a goal off the board.

Another reason to change this rule? Fans have no idea what constitutes interference anymore, and it seems far too subjective on a case-to-case basis. More goals. Fewer flops. Less confusion. Fewer long video reviews. Sorry, goaltender’s union.

10. No more offside challenges

See the above. Why are we taking goals off the board and removing exciting moments from the game over a skate being a millimeter offside during a regular-season game? I’m fine with wanting to get this right in the playoffs, but over an 82-game schedule, it seems like overkill.

Half of these calls require a magnifying glass and go against the spirit of the rule and the implementation of video review to begin with. Oh, and we haven’t even talked about disallowing goals when a goal is scored 30 or 40 seconds after the offside call in question. These reviews also take far too long and are rarely clear and obvious.

10 things I’d change about the NHL if I were commissioner

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