NHL Competition Committee Set

With a deal in sight, the sides took today off in honor of Canada Day, but will resume marathon talks Monday in New York. But the real story is that members of the long-awaited NHL Competition Committee have been chosen. Comprised of four active players, four GM's, and one owner, the committee will include players Trevor Linden, Brendan Shanahan, Jarome Iginla, and Rob Blake, GM's David Poile (Nashville), Bob Gainey (Montreal), Kevin Lowe (Edmonton), and Don Waddell (Atlanta), and Flyers owner Ed Snider. The committee will replace the GM's as the body to discuss and recommend all rule changes. Looking at that committee, I first recognized that the league ultimately gets the deciding vote, with 5 owners/GM's versus 4 players. Then I noticed how Canada gets an equal say in the committee despite only having 6 of 30 NHL teams. Two players from Canadian teams (Linden and Iginla) and two GM's from Canadian teams (Gainey and Lowe). It's also nice to see Shanahan's name on the list, and Iginla is a guy I'd trust to make the right calls. And everyone, expect a lot of changes. The marketing slogan for next season will be "A Whole New Game," and, living up to that, Bob McKenzie explains some of the rule changes we'll see next season: 'For Sures' -Goalie Equipment: 11-inch goal pads, smaller blockers and catching gloves. More form-fitting jerseys and pants. -Tag up offside -Goal line moved 2 feet back towards the boards -More interference penalties, especially on stickwork and pinning along the boards 'Highly Probable' -Shootouts -Four minutes 4-on-4 OT, then three minutes 3-on-3, then shootout -3 points for regulation win, no points for losing in OT/shootout -Fatter blue lines -No red line -Goalie puck handling -No touch icing, no icing allowed on penalty kill, no line change for team icing puck, linesmen discretion, -Bigger nets -Penalties for illegal defense/trap UPDATE 7/3 Well, as would be expected, the GM's don't like their power being taken away. They were informed via an NHL memo earlier this week. Said one GM:

"A lot of guys (GMs) aren't happy at all. In fact, they're furious. This competition committee could have been integrated with the GMs, but it looks like it's a replacement type of thing. It's going to be very interesting to see how this dynamic is going to work."

Oh boo hoo. You should've never held that sole responsibility. That this competition committee has players as well as management shows an early sign of a partnership between the trenches. One GM was more open to changes:

"Let's give it a chance. But a lot (of GMs) aren't happy, that is for sure."