from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

There was a time when an NHL general manager would get thrown out of a meeting of his peers for suggesting the possibility of eliminating the blue lines or creating a rule where goalies aren’t allowed to freeze the puck.

No more.

A gathering of the 31 league GMs – yes, George McPhee and the Vegas Golden Knights now have a place at the table – began here Monday with an interesting thought experiment: Where is the game heading in five years, 10 years or even beyond? What might the sport look like?

The GMs were split into four groups and asked to kick that around. Rather than focusing entirely of the issues of here and now, they spent three hours reimagining the hockey landscape.

“I think it’s (research and development),” said Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving. “Every company you look at does R&D. To grow and to expand and to get your mind – we try to do it in our offices, ‘OK, let’s talk about ideas’ – when you start putting constraints on everything you don’t become very creative.”

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