What’s Wrong With The NHL? It’s Time To Go Olympic Size

From the previous two articles you may think that I don’t like the NHL. That’s not the case at all. It’s a great league with a great product. I am just suggesting that some improvements could be made to make the game even better. So, with that in mind, here is my next suggestions to make this great game even better.

Olympic Size Ice Surfaces

The National Hockey League franchises have arenas that are 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. Olympic sized arenas are 200 feet long and 100 feet wide. Yes, that’s 15 feet wider. The NHL has evolved into a more quick paced game that accentuates skill and speed. This is really a good thing, compared to the type of NHL hockey that was played in the 1970s.

The unfortunate point to this argument, with some of the quickest and skilled players in the world, the game is being played inside of a phone booth. The extra width would allow speedy forwards to use this attribute to generate more offense. It would also mean that slow-footed defensemen would find the NHL a tougher place to play.

It would also mean that if a team has a strong power play, the additional width would only add to the offensive zone attack.

So, I realize that getting 32 NHL teams overnight to convert to Olympic sized rinks would be unrealistic, but why couldn’t each team be notified that when it intends to move into a new arena, it would need to be Olympic sized. Yes, there would be a period of time when some teams play in smaller rinks while others will have moved to the bigger rink. Either way, this would be a home team advantage.

I’ve shared my idea with you. More importantly, what do you think? Share your ideas with us.

By Garth Vanstone