After complaints about low goal scoring in hockey, it seemed like changes were going to be inevitable. We even covered it back in March when the league said they would be changing equipment for this upcoming season. They were hopeful to implement it for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but now it looks like any change this season may just be a tall tale. The Canadian Press is reporting that the earliest changes could happen would be in the 2017-18 season.
This is what Mathieu Schneider of the Players’ Association said in an interview with the Canadian Press:
“I wish no one said that we were going to have this ready for this season because I think that was an aggressive timeline to say that we would have that done, given where we are now and given some of the challenges we’ve had to face, I’m 100 per cent confident that we’re going to achieve our goal, but I’m not sure if and what parts we’re going to be able to try to implement this year.”
Yikes, that doesn’t sound great. The article also says that the real problem is the manufacturers coming around and making the equipment for the goalies. No, seriously. You would think making new equipment would be a boon for these companies but dragging their feet could lead to an upset league.
Colin Campbell, senior vice-president and director of hockey operations with the NHL has this to say to the Canadian Press in a different interview:
“The most important thing is we need co-operation from everybody, the PA needs to support us, support this process, even when they get one or two players calling them up and yelling at them. We need to be more vigilant ourselves at the NHL; the managers need to be behind (the proposed changes). And so everybody needs to be together in this to do what’s best for the game.”
Rather then the players fighting this, it looks to be more of a logistical issue. For a league as big as the NHL though, isn’t it odd that they couldn’t get this done in time for the season? Where exactly was the disconnect?
