from Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
“I think teams with fast forwards are at a disadvantage for icing now,” Hitchcock said. “You think about this ... you’ve got quick forwards half a step behind a defenseman, you got to the puck every time. Now all it is, it’s a little race to the hash marks. But it’s another 25 feet that you could win the race to … that you don’t win any more.”
Hitchcock admitted that it has a big effect on a team like Chicago.
“They’ve got all kinds of pucks that are now icing … they got them before,” he said. “I think teams that have really quick forwards, the new hybrid icing is a disadvantage now. So instead of a puck possession, it ends up as a face-off in your end.”
Hitchcock charted the hybrid icing calls in the Blues’ first two games that might have been reached by the forwards. The combined number for the Blues and Nashville was 11, and the total for the Blues and Florida was 13.
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