Four man hockey

Thanks to the ArmchairGM blogroll, I came across this.

Personally, I'm not a fan of going to four-on-four full time. But, reading that article, I feel like I could probably be swayed. There can be no question that blocked shots have been a recurring theme in this year's playoffs, and I hadn't noticed the so-called "Playing-Card Five" that was causing it.

Unfortunately, it'll probably never happen. First of all, the players union would likely never allow it, as I'm assuming that reducing the number of players on the ice also would mean reducing the number of players on the roster (I, on the other hand, am all for decreasing roster size to increase the average amount of talent on the ice at any given time). Second of all, I don't think Gary Bettman can be trusted to not screw up. It took him ten years and a season-cancelling lockout to finally adequately deal with the neutral-zone trap. I won't even mention the fact that expanding the size of the ice surface to standard international rules would open up the ice probably as much as taking a guy off the ice, because there's no way in hell Bettman will ever be able to pull that off (I'm not sure anyone could, in spite of the fact that a larger ice surface equals a larger perimeter equals more front row (i.e. $$$) seats).