Tougher Officiating Won’t Solve Problems

The growing trend is to criticize the NHL for having too many low-scoring games filled with grabbing and holding of the sport’s most skilled players.

To combat this negative image, the NHL last week announced that officials will enforce tighter obstruction and interference standards after the Olympic break.

Ideally, this move will open the ice and add enough offense so the NHL won’t need to adopt the drastic rule changes that will take effect the latter part of both the International and American Hockey League seasons.

But more likely, tougher officiating won’t cure hockey’s offensive woes with only eight weeks left in the regular season.

“You can’t make changes like this in the middle of the season,” Montreal Coach Alain Vigneault said. “They have to be careful. It’s a great game. Some things you can improve on, but others you shouldn’t touch.”

It’s understandable that many players and coaches are skeptical, considering that this is not the first time the NHL has called for tougher officiating.

Most figure that play will be called tighter for a few weeks but once postseason play nears and people start complaining about the officiating, the games will return to their more physical nature.

“The games are going to be 3 1/2 hours long because there’s going to be 300 freaking penalties,” King Coach Larry Robinson said. “I hope I’m wrong, but my gut feeling is that we’re going to go right back to the same games we had before. One penalty after another.”

Like every other major professional sports league, the NHL is going through growing pains, experiencing occasional up-and-down cycles.

But the league can’t keep tinkering with rules every time a group gets upset. The players who have whined the most about the quality of the game have been goal scorers like Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull and Teemu Selanne.

Could the NHL simply be going through a down period for multiple 50-goal scorers? Could it simply be a time when all-star players can no longer carry a team by themselves?

Not one of the NHL’s top three scoring teams--Detroit, Dallas and St. Louis--has a player ranked among the league’s top seven in points or goals scored.

So, instead of trying to pacify the league’s most vocal critics, the NHL may be better off to simply allow the game to run its course.

WHEEL OF CONFUSION

The AHL and IHL will combine to test six rule changes to help speed up the game over the next three months, which should be enough time for NHL general managers to decide which changes they will recommend for a Board of Governors vote in June.

The rule changes:

* The net will be moved out another one to three feet from the end boards.

* Goaltenders will not be allowed to handle the puck behind the net.

* Hurry-up faceoffs will be used, meaning no personnel changes on those stoppages of play.

* Line changes in the neutral zone will not be allowed.

* Puck carriers will not be allowed to stop behind their own net.

* Players who commit minor penalties have to serve the full two minutes even if the opposing team scores.

Some question how the NHL is going to be able to determine which of the new rules are effective when so many changes are being examined at once.

One idea that tested well this past exhibition season and has a good chance to be made official for next season is the addition of a fourth official. Although there’s still a debate whether making a linesman a referee would be better than adding an official, most agree that the game needs another person to make calls.

“The referee has to go with the play, and he’s focused on the puck,” Florida Coach Byran Murray told the Miami Herald. “It’s the player away from the puck that sometimes has a problem. They’re not going to let him go to get a pass, so he gets held up. I think having another set of eyes from behind the play would help.

“And I don’t think it would mean more penalties, not in the long run. Players are smart. They’ll think, ‘This other guy can call penalties. I can’t do stuff [away from the puck].’ It would help clean up our game and help the good players score more goals.”

STAR CUP

Dallas has a six-point lead over Detroit, Colorado and New Jersey in the Presidents’ Trophy race, which goes to the team with the most points in the regular season, but the Stars are rarely mentioned as a favorite to win the Stanley Cup.

Not since the New York Rangers did it in 1993-94 has a team finished with the best regular-season record and won the Stanley Cup in the same year. Coach Ken Hitchcock, however, is hoping that his defensive-minded Stars can end that streak.

Dallas, which has outscored opponents by 59 goals, has already had to play for stretches without Mike Modano, Greg Adams, Joe Nieuwendyk, Benoit Hogue and Jere Lehtinen because of injuries.

The Stars may also have the best one-two goaltending combination in the league with Ed Belfour, who is tied for the league lead in shutouts and is second in wins and goals-against average, and Roman Turek, who has not given up more than one goal in his last eight starts.

SPEEDY KINGS

An often overlooked reason behind the Kings’ turnaround has been the play of their “speed” checking line led by center Nathan LaFayette, recalled on Dec. 11, and right wing Russ Courtnall, signed as a free agent Nov. 7.

With either Dan Bylsma or Steve McKenna on the other wing, LaFayette and Courtnall have been regularly teamed up since Jan. 4. It’s no coincidence that the Kings have gone 10-3-2 in that span.

If Courtnall, who has five goals and one assist in his last three games, and LaFayette, who performed well in the two games after Robinson criticized him for becoming soft, can keep providing additional offense, the Kings could threaten St. Louis for fourth position in the Western Conference despite a lack of an effective power play.

THERE’S NO CRYING IN HOCKEY

Hockey prides itself on being a tough man’s sport, promotes cheap shots but punishes players for rugged play, according to Phoenix’s Rick Tocchet, who recently was suspended for eight games for separate hits on Detroit’s Steve Yzerman and Edmonton’s Ryan Smyth.

“The question is answered,” Tocchet told the Arizona Republic. “Did you watch the NHL All-Star game on Fox? I did. Did you see the commercials promoting the game? There’s this one where a couple of guys are playing pool, and they start beating each other up with pool cues, like they were hockey sticks.

“They’ve got this other one about two goalies going at it. And remember the one where the referee and the linesman start duking it out? It’s all big fun and games. It’s like a joke. Hey, I enjoyed those commercials too. I think they’re a kick. But it’s like a double-edged sword. The league can’t look one way and then look another.”

ONE TIMERS

Neal Broten wore a Dallas uniform for 116 of his 1,096 NHL games, but he was honored by a recent sellout Reunion Arena crowd as if he played for the Dallas Cowboys. “I spent parts of 16 years with this organization, and the way they treated my wife, my kids, my family could not have been better,” said Broten, a former King whose No. 7 was retired by the Stars on Feb. 7. . . . If Sergei Fedorov decides to play in Europe instead of in the NHL after playing for Russia in the Olympics, he will have a short season since most European teams complete their schedules by March 31. . . . Unhappy Calgary forward Sandy McCarthy could be the enforcer Anaheim needs to protect Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. . . . Since New Jersey defenseman Brad Bombardir stepped in so strongly for Ken Danyeko, the Devils’ blue line should be even stronger down the stretch with Danyeko returning from alcohol dependency rehab. . . . More impressive King stats: They are 20-1-1 when scoring first; 14-0-1 when ahead after one period. If Sandy Moger scores two more goals and Courtnall gets one more, the Kings will have nine players with at least 10 goals.