The NHL rules changes GMs should be pitching

As NHL general managers gather in Florida, Rahef joins Julian, Sam and Omar on Zone Time to propose their own rule changes. From a return to full two-minute penalties to officials doing post-game interviews, to the dreaded offside review.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: GMs get to all meet with each other and discuss GM stuff, maybe even propose a few rules. What about the salary cap? And should we have it in the playoffs? What about how we're going to handle no-trade clauses going forward? And did you guys hear Team North America is dead? The next World Cup's not going to have Team North America. It had me thinking, if we were all general managers, one, maybe the teams we would all want to be in charge of would be better maybe, worse. But if we were allowed to be at these GM meetings, if you had the power to propose a rule, what rule would you suggest to everyone there? I know someone has a rule that annoyed-- like, for me, the first thing I'm doing-- we're getting rid of that goddamn offside review. - Yes. JULIAN MCKENZIE: We're getting rid of that shit. - [LAUGHS] JULIAN MCKENZIE: I'm tired of it. SAM CHANG: Took the words right out of my mouth. JULIAN MCKENZIE: I'm tired of watching games where a goal happens, and it gets called off because of some offside that happened five minutes earlier. - Yep. That's brutal. Freaking [INAUDIBLE] ruined everything. JULIAN MCKENZIE: It just is! [LAUGHTER] RAHEF ISSA: I could write a book, a thesis, about how I think the NHL needs to Institute a luxury salary cap and do away with-- - Yes. JULIAN MCKENZIE: I would read it. RAHEF ISSA: --the hard cap system. JULIAN MCKENZIE: We would all read it. RAHEF ISSA: I could give lectures about this. I think the NHL, especially now, as they really are struggling with COVID and the pandemic and how that's affected the salary cap. I-- you see teams like Arizona literally dying out. And then you see teams like the Leafs, teams like the Canadiens, who, if they were given the chance to institute a luxury-- to participate in something like a luxury tax, they would jump on it so quickly. And then maybe we don't have to resort to these stupid LTIR shenanigans with the cap that you see teams like Tampa do. And we don't have to have that stupid discourse, you know, speak about that for like a month. And now the GMs are trying to institute a salary cap in the playoffs. You know, the solution to that would just be-- let's talk about a luxury tax. I think it's time for the NHL to consider that seriously. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Let's put that into existence. Let's do it. Let's do it. Rahef, you are right. Anyone else with any rules or any grievances they want to bring up, now is the time to do it. - I have one that's kind of-- I think we should go back to a two-minute penalty being a major. So-- JULIAN MCKENZIE: What? - --you score 1. Keep going. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Oh! RAHEF ISSA: Aw! - Keep going. JULIAN MCKENZIE: OK. SAM CHANG: --is on my list too. I'm with you. That was on my list. JULIAN MCKENZIE: OK. - I know that that's how the NHL used to be, but then they changed it because the Habs' power play was disgusting. SAM CHANG: Yes. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yes. - And they would just-- here it is, light teams up. Go back. Goaltending has improved. Let's go back. Two minutes, you score 1. Keep going for the-- keep going for the remaining two minutes, because I think we keep talking about officiating and stuff, right? You know, officiating, the refs don't call this, refs don't call that. And we're going to talk about refs later on [INAUDIBLE]. JULIAN MCKENZIE: But it's the best in the world, Omar. There's nothing wrong with officiating-- - Ha, ha ha. JULIAN MCKENZIE: --in the NHL. - Yeah, sure. Did you see what Kyle Dubas said when they asked him? He laughed. JULIAN MCKENZIE: [LAUGHS] - Kyle Dubas [INAUDIBLE] all it was. RAHEF ISSA: That was my favorite reaction. It was amazing. - It was all it was. RAHEF ISSA: [INAUDIBLE] - So I-- literally, I think if you make the, I guess, the consequences of taking a penalty more severe, then I think that in a way can maybe deter players from doing stupid stuff. Like, players are always going to do things because there's like a 1 in 9 chance they're going to be called for something. Yeah, a player will get called for, like, tripping or hooking or slashing. But by no means is that the only time it's happened during the game. This is the only time they got caught for it. So if you make the consequence for taking a penalty more severe-- if you take a penalty, and the top plot power play of a team stays on the ice for two minutes straight, imagine taking a penalty against Colorado. Yeah, sure, have fun. Go do that. The coach would lose their mind, like, literally. All right? So I think that would be a fun-- I don't think they'd ever do that, but I would love to see that. Just go back to you take a penalty round there for the full two minutes. If you score 5 goals, whatever, it keeps going on until the clock runs out. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Well, how do you feel-- RAHEF ISSA: You know that I would be scared about something like that? I do not trust the refs. They would never call anything ever. They would never call a penalty. - Yep. RAHEF ISSA: Let's say, it was, like, you're in the playoffs, OK. It's a game 7. There's like 10 minutes left. Game tied. - Oh my god. You're so right. RAHEF ISSA: And somebody slashes the shit out of somebody else. - You're so right. RAHEF ISSA: Are the refs going to call that? SAM CHANG: They already don't call it. - You're so right. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah. RAHEF ISSA: [INAUDIBLE] JULIAN MCKENZIE: The whistles kind of go away. RAHEF ISSA: It's just going to be so much worse. I don't trust the refs. They already don't want to influence the game. So, you know, I don't know. - Yeah. The "I don't want to influence the game." So I'm going to watch a player be interfered with. That will prevent them from making a defensive play. Then the other team scores. Oh, but you know what? It's cool. We did our job. We didn't interfere with the game. Frickin'-- oh my god. Anyway. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Sam, what about you? SAM CHANG: This leads me into my rule change, which is make referees available after every game. - Yes. SAM CHANG: If you call the game, you have to be available. - Yes. SAM CHANG: That's it. - Absolutely. SAM CHANG: That's my rule. I don't understand why-- JULIAN MCKENZIE: Major League Soccer has this option. SAM CHANG: It should happen. If you're going to make a call, or you're going to not make a call, you should be able to explain concisely and rationally why that happened or didn't happen. RAHEF ISSA: Yeah. The first people I'm calling-- let's go back to that Boston Bruins [INAUDIBLE] - Yes. RAHEF ISSA: I want them on trial. On trial, OK? JULIAN MCKENZIE: On trial? [LAUGHTER] - Yo, no-- it's-- no, listen. No, Rahef is absolutely right. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Bring out the gavel. - It's refs like that that make the game dangerous, man. They lost control. Then, at that point, players are just doing whatever because, like, the ref's thinking, well, man, well, I let that go. So I guess I can't call that. And then, the other players are like, OK, well, I guess we can just do these things. And then, the other players get mad. And they start doing things worse. It's refs like-- I think was it Brad Meier? I feel like that name stands out. It might have been. I don't know. But it's refs like that that make the game dangerous. So 1,000%. 1,000%. Throw them up. Go, speak.