from Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun,
In order to offer some clarity and opinion from those who have their fingerprints on the pulse of the league, Postmedia approached four governors for some insight.
The panel includes:
Kevin Lowe, Vice Chairman, Oilers Entertainment Group, Jim Nill, General Manager, Dallas Stars, John Davidson, President of Hockey Operations, Columbus Blue Jackets, Doug Armtrong, General Manager, St. Louis Blues.
ZEISBERGER: Coming out of the World Cup, goal scoring was up by a significant amount. But that trend has quickly reversed and now offence has dried up again, with the average being about five goals per game between the two teams. Is this reason for concern? Are changes required, whether it be expediting measures to shrink goalie equipment, make nets bigger, penalize zone defences, etc.?
NILL: A 2-1 game can be better than a 5-4 game. I think the game has never been better, never been faster. And almost every game is exciting. I think that’s because every team has a chance to win. I think everyone knows whoever makes the playoffs has a chance to win. Every night’s a playoff game. There was one coach at the start of the season who was asked: 'When do you think you have to start getting ready for the playoffs?' Well, the playoffs start on Day 1 of the regular season now. I think that’s great for the fans, great for the league.
ARMSTRONG: One of my thoughts on why the scoring was up early was that a lot of the top coaches in our game were away for training camp. By the time they got back and got things the way they wanted defensively, it took a bit of time. But I’m not surprised it came down. It’s the coaching, and because of the players who weren’t in the World Cup have now caught up competitively with the players who were.
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