It’s been over a decade in the making, but the NHL will finally be making face shields mandatory for all new NHL players, beginning next season. As expected for the last 15 years or so, the league will put in a grandfather clause that allows those players with NHL experience to continue to make a choice, but there will never be another visorless rookie in the NHL.
The line-in-the-sand appears to be 26 games of NHL experience, but all of this will be a moot point unless approved by both the NHLPA and the NHL Board of Governors. Both approvals are expected to be a formality, as the latest NHLPA polls show an overwhelming majority of players now support the switch.
It’s unclear whether the visorless youth on the Stars roster will make the switch, including Jamie Benn, who wore a visor during his rookie season, but has played without one the last two years. Who knows? Jamie might turn into the Craig MacTavish of his generation, and go down as the last player in the league to play sans-window. [Globe and Mail]
Visors aren’t the only change on the agenda this summer, as the NHL is also toying with the concept of shallower nets and hybrid-style icing rules for next season. The hybrid-icing will be implemented during the pre-season, and could very well make it into regular season play as well. The shallower nets would allow for more room behind the goal line, without altering the physical dimensions of the goal itself. [Puck Daddy]
The Los Angeles Kings remain perfect at home this post-season, as they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 last night. The Blackhawks still lead the series 2 games to 1, but this is exactly the kind of “life” Chicago didn’t want to give the Kings at home. The pivotal game four is Thursday night in Los Angeles, and it should be a good one. [TSN]
The Carolina Hurricanes officially unveiled their new uniforms a few hours before the Stars yesterday, and not many people were very impressed. They dumbed down their trademark striping pattern, simplified their colors, and shrunk their logo by a considerable margin, all in the hopes of finding an iconic retro look. Instead, they look like a cross between Team Canada and a red Toronto Maple Leafs. For those scoring at home, here is some SAT practice. Hurricanes : Red Maple Leafs :: Lightning : Blue Red Wings. [Carolina Hurricanes]
Mark Streit will be testing free agency, after the Islanders announced that they would not meet his contractual demands this summer. The Swiss-born defenseman has served as the team’s captain since 2011, and is expected to be one of the top defensemen available in this class of unrestricted free agents. [NewsDay]
Francois Allaire, the man who trained both Patrick Roy and Jean-Sebastien Giguere to be the goaltenders they once were, has been chosen by Patrick Roy’s Colorado Avalanche to take over their netminder training. [TSN]
In news-of-awesome, Paul “Biznasty” Bissonnette recently used his very popular twitter account to return a man’s lost wallet. Probably the greatest tweeter in the league for many reasons, not the least of which was when he asked if it was humanly possible to go number two without going number one… Class. [USA Today]
Today’s video is Duncan Keith, going all Ike Turner on Jeff Carter. Keith gets upset, randomly swings his stick in anger, slashes Carter in the face, and then immediately hits him with the “Ohhh, I’m sorry, baby… I didn’t mean it.” act.