What rule changes do NHL players want to see? We asked 55 of the biggest stars

The game’s in a great place.

That was the popular sentiment at March’s NHL general manager meetings in South Florida when no rule changes were pushed forward to the league’s competition committee for discussion and final approval. And it’s also mostly what The Athletic heard from players at the recent NHL media tours in Stockholm and Henderson, Nev.

“I’m pretty happy with how the league is and how the game is going,” Washington Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin said.

But still — there must be some room for improvement, right? A new overtime format? Or a fix for the age-old problem of growing goalie equipment? Or … an NHL shot clock?

With the 2023-24 season right around the corner, we asked 55 players — including a number of hockey’s very best — the question “What’s one rule change you would make?” And indeed, we heard a number of old ideas resurfacing as well as some interesting new ones.

Some players chose not to answer, and others offered up more than one idea. Some answered anonymously, and others went on the record and provided commentary.

Here are the answers they gave, along with the number of players who were behind each.

Continuous three-on-three

Votes: 6

Fans love three-on-three. So do the players.

The stars get to show off their skills, and many feel it’s a better way to conclude a game than a shootout. So why not just keep going until someone scores?

“I think three-on-three is as exciting as our game gets, just with all the open space and speed,” Anaheim Ducks star Troy Terry said. “I just think it’s a more real way to end a hockey game.”

We’re already trending toward more games ending at three-one-three. The format came into effect in 2015-16, and last season a record 68.5 percent of games that went past regulation ended before the shootout (207 of 302). Ninety-five went to a shootout. Here’s how that number has evolved over the past 10 years, with those that end in OT, those in a shootout and the percentage of the total in OT:

Both the league and players’ union have scoffed at extending three-on-three, citing the wear and tear on players, injury concerns, the fact the same skilled players would play throughout the extra time, and the reality that road teams need to get to the airport.

But as the Minnesota Wild’s Jake Middleton joked, “Maybe after five minutes, they have to force players like me to play three-on-three so it ends.”

Refs talk after games

Votes: 5

As one player said, “We have to stand up and be accountable after every game. Why shouldn’t they?”

Hey, it’s a good point.

As player after player in Henderson said, it’s a fast game and refs and linesmen are human. But it would be nice to know what a ref or linesman was thinking or saw during critical decisions during…