Fixing the NHL: From music to five for fighting
The NHL is great — full of fast action, physical play and exciting players, including recognizable faces and lesser-known talents fans are dying to see. There's plenty to love about the league and the sport. However, that doesn't mean everything is fine and dandy on the ice, which is where we come in.
Welcome back to the Yardbarker NHL roundtable. We dropped the puck on the roundtable on a positive note, but today we look at a couple things we'd change in the NHL, playing commissioner and audio-visual director for a day. We asked our panelists two questions on changes they'd make in the NHL. Here's what they said:
If you could change one team's goal song, which would it be and what would you change it to?
Chelena Goldman: Never mind song — the cannon that the Columbus Blue Jackets use drives me bonkers. Anything so loud that it messes with the radio stream for the game has got to go.
Laura Saba: The New York Rangers' goal song to literally anything else.
Joe Boland: The Blackhawks' song because I still have Michael Leighton flashbacks from 2010. I think this version of "Funky Cold Medina" should be the song — preferably with Jeremy Roenick forced to sing it live every time.
Jason Clinkscales: Chicago's use of "Chelsea Dagger," no question. With the exception of the Minnesota Wild paying homage to Prince and the Buffalo Sabres’ use of "Let Me Clear My Throat," there isn’t a goal song I particularly care for, so for me, a song is either tolerated or, in one case, strongly disliked. "Chelsea Dagger" is the absolute worst of them all, so if the Blackhawks are truly a team of the people, they would save us all. I don’t care what it’s replaced with. Plus, since this is Chicago, there are quite a few native artists who would be happy to lend a song, though the in-arena hockey crowd probably won’t veer much toward non-mainstream rap. Just anything with rhythm, anything not from Jock Jams, and anything BUT "Chelsea Dagger."
Sarah Sprague: How is it that I love Gorillaz so much and want nothing but good things for Damon Albarn, but the second I hear THE GOAL song "Song 2" by his other band Blur, I wish a pox upon his house? (And let's not kid ourselves, even when it's not the goal song being played, it's really the goal song everyone is hearing in his or her head.)
My real answer is the Kings' because it's just their usual goal song with a "50th Anniversary" logo slapped on it for 2016-2017, and it is quite possibly one of the least L.A.-sounding songs to be played over the PA at Staples Center. You are relieved when they play "I Love LA" because then you can imagine you're at Dodger Stadium instead and not looking at rafters celebrating T-Swift sellouts.
If you were NHL commissioner for a day, what one rule would you change and/or implement (and why)?
Chelena Goldman: I would work on expanding the concussion protocol. A colleague and I were discussing after a game in October how some players don't show symptoms of being concussed until the day after taking a big hit, sometimes making it hard to determine during a game how seriously a player is injured. I would want to have an in-depth discussion with league doctors to determine the best way to go about expanding the process. That probably isn't going to all get done in just one day, is it? Maybe I should be commissioner for a little longer just to make sure this gets taken seriously.
Laura Saba: There are oh-so-many rules to choose from. The puck-over-the-glass delay of game penalty is usually at the top of the list of fan pet peeves, so I'd start with that one.
Joe Boland: This is where I'm going to lose most of you. I know it. But if I was commissioner, I'd eliminate fighting from the game completely. I know, I know: tradition, policing, blah, blah, blah. But given all we know about head trauma, why in the world is fighting still just a five-minute penalty in hockey? You can't fight in baseball. You can't fight in football. You can't fight in basketball. Hell, you can't even fight in pee wee hockey and other levels of the sport. It doesn't take anything away except a sideshow — albeit an entertaining one — and leads to damage down the line for combatants. Plus, eliminating fighting would eliminate whatever few leftover "goons" still reside on NHL rosters, allowing more skilled players and more beautiful play. Out with fighting, in with skill.
Jason Clinkscales: It’s not an on-ice rule, but it’s something that the league should talk with its local affiliates about. Gary Bettman came from the NBA, and while the league has taken this stance against marketing individual rivalries and matchups, he could borrow something from his former employer that can enhance the NHL Network. NBA TV has Fan Night where fans can vote on which game it’ll show on the network Tuesday night. NBA TV basically picks up the local home broadcast, bringing it to a national TV audience. The NHL could copy the same exact concept, which would give fans a greater chance to see some of the best teams and players in the league, especially the wunderkinds that play outside of the northeast and Chicago bubble NBC is obsessed with.
Sarah Sprague: When a goalie has the puck in the glove and you can clearly — CLEARLY, NO BIAS HERE — see the puck is over the line but not the entirety of the goalie's glove is over the line, it should be a goal. If I'm being completely honest, I wish the NHL looked at the goal line like the NFL when the puck is on the ice: Any part of the puck is over the slightest bit of line it's a goal. You want an increase in scoring? There you go. Alter the rules for what is and isn't a goal slightly.
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