The NHL has announced a bunch of changes to the rulebook for the new season. The rules address stuff like the overtime, diving, and the trapezoid.

And, oh yeah, the spin-o-rama is dead.

Per internet tradition, we must now file the changes under the following headings: Worst Ever or Best Ever. There can be no in between.

Worst Ever: Embiggening the trapezoid

Rule 1.8 – Rink – Goalkeeper’s Restricted Area

The trapezoid will be expanded by two feet from the goal post on both sides of the net.

Ask a goalie and they’ll say the trapezoid needs to go. Ask a systems guy and they’ll say the trapezoid doesn’t discourage dump-and-chase hockey. Instead of eliminating it, they made it bigger. Maybe that’ll do something. I dunno. WORST EVER!

Best Ever: Game misconducts and automatic suspensions

Rule 23 – Game Misconduct Penalties

A new Game Misconduct category will be created. Clipping, charging, elbowing, interference, kneeing, head-butting and butt-ending move from the general category into the same category as boarding and checking from behind (“Physical Fouls”), whereby a player who incurs two such game misconducts in this category would now be automatically suspended for one game.

Goons get gone. I’m sure Gary still has a “get out of jail free” card he can throw at someone, but raising other kinds of dangerous cheap shots to the level of boarding seems prudent. And prudence is the BEST EVER.

Worst Ever: No moar spin-o-rama

Rule 24 – Penalty Shot

The ‘Spin-O-Rama’ move, as described in Section 24.2 of the 2013-14 NHL Rule Book, will no longer be permitted either in Penalty Shot situations or in the Shootout.

RIP

The shootout is popcorn gimmickry and I love it. Goalies should be allowed to use paintball guns for all I care. WORST EVER!

Worst Ever: Moar video review for goals

Rule 38 – Video Goal Judge

Video review will be expanded in the following areas:

* Rule 38.4 (viii) has been modified to allow broader discretion to Hockey Operations to assist the referees in determining the legitimacy of all potential goals (e.g., to ensure they are “good hockey goals”). The revised Rule will allow Hockey Operations to correct a broader array of situations where video review clearly establishes that a “goal” or “no goal” call on the ice has been made in error. The new expanded rule will also allow Hockey Operations to provide guidance to referees on goal and potential goal plays where the referee has blown his whistle (or intended to blow his whistle) after having lost sight of the puck.

* In reviewing “Kicked in Goals,” Hockey Operations will require more demonstrable video evidence of a “distinct kicking motion” in order to overrule a “goal” call on the ice, or to uphold a “no goal” call on the ice.

This might’ve helped in Montreal in 2010, but it’s too late for that now. And just for making me thinking about that playoff series again, I declare this the WORST EVER.

Best Ever: Bad Sasha

Rule 64 – Diving / Embellishment

The supplementary discipline penalties associated with Rule 64.3 (Diving/Embellishment) will be revised to bring attention to and more seriously penalize players (and teams) who repeatedly dive and embellish in an attempt to draw penalties. Fines will be assessed to players and head coaches on a graduated scale outlined below.

Incident #	Player Fine(s)			Head Coach Fine(s)
1	Warning			N/A
2	$2,000			N/A
3	$3,000			N/A
4	$4,000			$2,000
5	$5,000			$3,000
6	$5,000			$4,000
7	$5,000			$5,000
8	$5,000			$5,000

Alex Semin is making 7 million a year. He won’t mind. BEST EVER!

Best Ever: No moar delay tactics

Rule 76 – Face-offs

To curb delay tactics on face-offs after icing infractions, in situations where the defending team is guilty of a face-off violation, following an icing, the defending player who is initially lined up for the face-off will be given a warning, but will be required to remain in the circle to take the face-off. A second face-off violation by the defending team in such situation will result in a two minute minor bench penalty.

If you send some chump up to the dot just to act up and buy your gassed penalty kill squad some time, he’s gonna have to take the faceoff. If he screws around twice, your team is going down a(nother) man. Take that, pests. BEST EVER!

Best Ever: Overtime ice

Rule 84 – Overtime

* Teams will switch ends prior to the start of overtime in the regular season.

* The entire ice surface will undergo a “dry scrape” prior to the start of overtime in the regular season.

* The procedure requiring the head coach to submit a list of the first three shooters in the shoot-out has been eliminated.

The ice is hot snowy garbage during OT, so this dry scrape could make for the wide-open action we hope for in 4-on-4. Plus, now we get mystery-meat shootout dudes. BEST EVER!

Best Ever: Fewer neutral-zone faceoffs

Rule 85 – Puck Out of Bounds

There have been further rule changes made relating to face-off location to avoid penalizing teams for plays intended to create bona fide scoring opportunities. Specifically, the following are “categories of plays” where face-offs will remain in the attacking zone despite the fact that the attacking team was technically responsible for the stoppage in play: Shots at the net by a player on the attacking team where: (i) the shot breaks the glass; (ii) the shot goes off the side of the net and deflects out of play; (iii) the shot goes off the dasher boards or glass and deflects out of play; (iv) the shot is tipped or deflected out of play by a teammate; and (v) the shot becomes wedged in or on the exterior of the goal net.

Awesome. Teams who are getting shellacked won’t get saved out by some freak bounce. This will lead to more faceoffs at the ends of the ice and moar goals. Moar goal are BEST EVER!

There’s also this rule about tripping, but since it didn’t fit into the best ever/worst ever dichotomy I ignored it:

Rule 57 – Tripping

The rule relating to “Tripping” will be revised to specifically provide that a two minute minor penalty will be assessed when a defending player “dives” and trips an attacking player with his body/arm/shoulder, regardless of whether the defending player is able to make initial contact with the puck.

But, in situations where a penalty shot might otherwise be appropriate, if the defending player “dives” and touches the puck first (before the trip), no penalty shot will be awarded. (In such cases, the resulting penalty will be limited to a two-minute minor penalty for tripping.)

So whattaya think?