General managers to discuss OT format, video reviews

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The possibilities of altering the overtime format of regular-season games to include a portion of 3-on-3 play and expanding video review to include goals scored as a potential result of goalie interference will be two of the main topics discussed at the annual March meeting of the NHL's general managers.

The GMs will meet Monday through Wednesday here to discuss the state of the game and seek ways to improve it. Entering the meetings, there are no specific recommendations for changes in rules or format. Those could be developed during the course of the meetings.

"If we don't have any changes, I think we've got a fabulous product," Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. "I think it's a safer workplace than it's been in a long time. I think the game is in a great place."

Expanding overtime to include 3-on-3 play was discussed by the GMs at their one-day meeting in Toronto in November. The idea has been championed by Holland, who made it part of the Red Wings' annual Traverse City Prospects Tournament in 2013.

"We understand in Detroit the shootout is here to stay… so how do we have a greater percentage of games decided in overtime and a lesser percentage decided in a shootout?" Holland said. "The shootout fans will get their shootouts, but from my perspective I'd like to see more games decided in overtime than in the shootout. That's all I'm trying to bring to the table."

The American Hockey League altered its overtime format this season, going from five minutes to seven minutes in length. The additional time allowed the league to switch from 4-on-4 play, which is used at the start of the overtime period, to 3-on-3 play after the first whistle after three minutes have been played. In this new format, a greater percentage of games are ending in overtime rather than being decided in shootouts.

Of the 912 games played in the AHL through Saturday, 221 were extended to overtime. Of those 221 games, 170 were decided in overtime, a 77 percent rate. Last season, 35.3 percent of the overtime games in the AHL were decided before the shootout. Of the 170 goals scored in overtime this season, 73 of them, including special-teams goals, were scored during the time allotted for 3-on-3 play.

In the NHL, of the 1,029 games played through Saturday, 255 were extended to overtime. Of those 255 games, 110 were decided in overtime, a 43.1 percent rate. Last season, 42 percent of the 307 games that went to overtime were decided before the shootout.

Also through Saturday, the AHL had 18.6 percent of its games decided in overtime, up from 8.5 percent last season. It had 5.6 percent of its games decided in a shootout, down from 15.6 percent last season.

The NHL numbers have stayed static for each of the past two seasons. This season, 10.7 percent of its games were decided in overtime, before the shootout. Last season, it was 10.4 percent. In 2014-15, 14.1 percent of its NHL games have been decided in a shootout, down slightly from 14.47 percent last season.

The slight variations in the NHL's overtime/shootout numbers is likely related to the rules change adapted for this season, requiring teams to switch defensive ends for overtime to create the long-change factor which exists in the second period of regulation play.

"[The AHL] numbers are rather significant; they're even somewhat significant comparing their numbers to the current NHL numbers," Holland said. "They've done a real flip of their numbers by going from five minutes to seven minutes and adding the 3-on-3 component."

Holland said change is harder to make at the NHL level because it requires support from several levels. The general managers, the Competition Committee, the NHL's Board of Governors and the NHLPA Executive Committee all must approve a proposed rule change before it can be enacted.

"I think there is some support," Holland said, "but we've got to get into the room and hear the numbers, have a conversation."

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill said he watched back-to-back AHL games decided in 3-on-3 overtime this season and came away impressed.

"There's pluses and minuses to it," Nill said. "It was very exciting. I think there is some merit there. That's the plus side, the excitement of it. There is some downside: Is it more taxing on the star players who are going to play more? That's what we have to figure out. There are some concerns, but it's something we definitely need to have some healthy discussion on."

The GMs also plan to discuss expanding video review to include goals scored on plays that may have involved interference with the goaltender. This topic has been discussed in previous meetings, but there has been resistance to expanding the scenarios in which a goal can be reviewed.

"In past meetings when we went to video review the feeling in the room was [that] the reason you go to video review is you believe there's a black-and-white answer," Holland said. "If a decision has been made and it's obvious it's the wrong decision based on a black-and-white set of rules, we want to have it right. Goalie interference hasn't been, and I don't know if it will ever be, black and white. Some is black, some is white, but there's lots of gray."

General managers have seen the plays that will fall under any new rule proposed in past meetings and have been undecided in those instances if there can be a consensus.

"The ones we always see on TV that are always replayed are the no-brainer ones; we sit in the meeting and look at other ones, and they're not as clear-cut as you think," Nill said. "We sit in those meetings, it's all experienced people, we'll have a vote and out of 30 people 16 will say it's a goal and 14 will say it isn't. That's how tough it is. That's the problem."

Holland said the NHL's Hockey Operations Department has been keeping tabs on goals scored on plays that might have involved goalie interference. He said he's eager to see the findings of their ongoing analysis.

"Whenever I talk to [Detroit coach] Mike Babcock or other people in hockey it's always, 'Let's just get it right,' " Holland said. "Well, sometimes when there is gray, your idea of right and my idea of right might be different. I'd like to get the perspective of people that are sitting in the room watching games night after night after night and watching many gray plays that could go in one direction or go in the other direction. Is there a comfort level that if we do go to video review that it's not going to lead to more controversy?"

There is also concern about taking too much away from the on-ice officials.

"Referees are part of the game," Nill said. "We've got to help them out, but we understand the position they're in too. The game is going 100 miles per hour. Overall, they do a great job, so how much are we going to take the game out of their hands?"

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