BOCA RATON, Fla. -- NHL general managers recommended Tuesday that the League go to a 3-on-3 format for regular-season overtime, starting as early as next season.
The overtime format now is 4-on-4 play for five minutes. If no goal is scored, the game is decided by a shootout.
The general managers also recommended the addition of a limited video-replay challenge, which would be issued by a coach, for scoring plays involving the potential presence of goaltender interference, and to remove delay-of-game penalties assessed for a player shooting the puck from the defensive zone directly out of play.
Any potential changes to the rules need to be reviewed and approved by the NHL-NHLPA Competition Committee, comprised of representatives from the League, the NHL Players' Association, and the Board of Governors. The Competition Committee and the BOG each traditionally meet in June.The managers want to see 3-on-3 overtime instituted in an attempt to decrease the number of overtime games that reach the shootout.
"The consensus in the room, overwhelmingly, is we're not getting rid of the shootout. It was, how do you reduce the number of games that go to the shootout, keep the shootout special?" NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.
The format of the new-look overtime is undetermined with two being considered.
One option would have overtime start 3-on-3 and continue for five minutes, unless a goal is scored, before going to the shootout.
The other would mimic the model instituted by the American Hockey League this season, with 4-on-4 play for the first three minutes of a seven-minute overtime, followed by 3-on-3 play after the first whistle past the three-minute mark.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=7...d=nhl:topheads
**** YOU BETTMAN!!!