NHL considering rule changes to create more overtime offense - ESPN

TORONTO — The NHL is considering rule changes to create more offense in overtime games.

At their meeting Tuesday in Toronto, the league's general managers discussed potential tweaks to the 3-on-3 overtime period. The NHL's current format sees teams tied after regulation play five minutes of 3-on-3 sudden death hockey. If the score remains tied after that, the game is decided in shootout.

«The purpose of overtime is to end the game [before the shootout], and we need to make sure that continues to progress,» Arizona Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong said.

Colin Campbell, the NHL vice president of hockey operations, said the league still supports the 3-on-3 format and hasn't discussed any major overhauls to overtime.

«We haven't gotten to whether it should be longer or whether we should get rid of the shootout,» he said. «We don't mind the format.»

The GMs instead focused on how to create more scoring chances during the 3-on-3 overtime, which has become more meticulous and less chaotic in its nine years of existence.

Their biggest gripe: Players possess the puck for too long outside the attacking zone.

The GMs discussed different concepts for overtime rule tweaks, much of it focused on players circling back into their own zone with the puck to regroup before rushing up the ice.

«It's become a puck possession game now. Winning the opening draw is a big thing,» Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill said. «Coaches are very good and players are good, and they're finding different ways to do things. We just want to make sure that excitement's still there.»

The GMs discussed a variety of concepts to juice that excitement, including restricting a team from skating back into its own zone, almost creating a «half court» version of 3-on-3 overtime. There