from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,

We speak here of the small but numerous rule changes made late Thursday. You can look at these changes — which are probably still happening a little too often for the good of any game — in a positive light, which is probably the way they were intended, or you can view them with a more cynical disposition.

Take, for instance, the changes on diving infractions. A player will now be fined $2,000 for his second infraction and $3,000 for the next one until a maximum is reached of $5,000 per dive. Getting this blight out of the game is a noble endeavour. It has become a total stain on soccer and hockey was beginning to get into that arena, at least with some players. But the cynic will clearly ask how any official can be certain a player is diving. For starters, some of these guys are great at what they do, and even in watching some of the alleged examples of diving that TSN showed to illustrate the problem, you couldn’t be dead certain something was a dive or simply a player getting his feet tangled up as he tried to turn.

And an official will have to determine this on the fly, sometimes from as far way as 50 feet or more.

The result of this will likely mean fewer whistles by officials unwilling to saddle players with fines when they’re not absolutely certain of their call.

read on plus a look at some of the other rule changes...