Bettman weighs in on shootout's future

The NHL brought a major change to the regular season overtime format last month when they announced that they would be played three on three instead of four on four.

The change was brought in order to see less games end in the shootout, which as been controversial in it's first decade of existence. Hockey purists won't be happy to know though that the commissionner has no intention to put an end to it.

“I think to the extent some people wanted to see fewer shootouts, this will get us there, and that’s fine. The shootout isn’t going anywhere,” Bettman told the Boston Globe.

“You go to a building during a shootout, everybody’s on their feet, nobody is leaving, which is what it was designed to do. It’s exciting, it’s fun, it’s entertaining, and so if we’re going to try and reduce the number of shootouts, this may do it.”

The AHL adopted, although in a different format, the three-on-three overtime format last season and 75% of the games that went to overtime didn't need shootouts to settle the winner.

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