IIHF implements several new rules relating to penalties and these ideas should be adopted by the NHL

This past week, it was announced that the IIHF had implemented a number of rule changes relating to penalties to "add extra excitement to the game". In the past, when a minor penalty was assessed, the penalty was nullified if the opposing team scored a goal. That is no longer the case. There are also some additional changes to penalty rules.

These rule changes are as follows:


There's no question in my mind that these rule changes, if implemented in the NHL, would make the game a lot more interesting, but such an idea wouldn't be without its drawbacks.

We have seen NHL officials influence the outcome of games by making horrendous calls with the rules as they currently stand without any of these changes. Imagine, if you will, what the fallout would be if an NHL official made a bad call in a very important game, which led to a team scoring 2 or 3 goals on a power play. Referees take a lot of heat as it is, so if rules such as these were to come into effect, the league might require some additional rule changes that allow for play reviews to ensure that they're getting the right call.

I'm sure that some will look at the game as it is and say "if it's not broke, don't fix it", but others, like myself, would love to see the game modernized a bit more and for the penalty rules to be amended to make games a little more interesting - especially for a team like the Leafs, who boast on the league's better powerplays.