The NHL’s annual March GMs meetings take place next week in Palm Beach, Fla., a three-day affair beginning Monday.
Let’s examine some of what’s expected to be discussed:...
3-on-3 on the agenda
You may remember that at the last GMs meetings, in November in Toronto, managers and league officials discussed three-on-three overtime and whether it needed tweaking to help avoid the long possessions and leaving the offensive zone to constantly regroup, etc.
“I am in favor of exploring tweaks,” Armstrong told The Athletic at the time. “Three-on-three is excellent entertainment when played with pace and multiple scoring opportunities. It is usually the top-end skilled players on the ice, and to have them show off their speed and skill is great for the fans.”
Added Kraken GM Ron Francis, also in November this first time this came up: “I just think OT is not as exciting as when it first came in — not as many change of possessions with all the regroups. So we are trying to look at if there was a so-called ‘over-and-back line,’ does that change things? I like the thought process.”...
LTIR conversation expected
Even if it doesn’t end up on the official agenda per se, the expectation what is that the league will be open to hearing from GMs on where they stand regarding the LTIR/salary-cap/playoff discussion. A couple of teams have already reached out to the league about it....
Hockey ops presentation, coach’s challenges
As always, the league hockey ops department, led by Campbell, will have a presentation, and the timing in mid-March is always perfect as far as going over things ahead of the playoffs.
Specifically, hockey ops will go over examples from this season of video review for coach’s challenges on offside and goalie interference, looking at close calls to explain why certain decisions were made and what to look for in similar circumstances come playoff time....