Brian Burke proposes 4 major rule changes for the NHL.

Former National Hockey League general manager and team president Brian Burke has always been one to speak his mind and whether you like his style or not it has led to him being one of the most recognizable and most well respected voices in the league. Even when it comes to the fans who don't like Burke, when he speaks they tend to listen to what he has to say if only to use it to criticize him later on. 

On Saturday night Burke was once again sharing his opinion on some of the things that rub him the wrong way in the National Hockey League and this resulted in Burke proposing 4 potential rules changes just days before the NHL's active general managers are set to meet in Florida for their regular general manager's meetings. I must admit that none of these rule changes sound particularly radical and honestly more than a few of them make a lot of sense, and it will be interesting to see if the league takes any of Burke's suggestions on board or if they even get discussed at all at those upcoming meetings.

#1 Shot clock in overtime.

In my opinion the most controversial of Burke's proposed rules, the veteran NHL executive stated that he would like to see a shot clock implemented in overtime. Burke believes that NHL coaches have effectively ruined the excitement of overtime by instructing their players to be overly conservative and he would like to see a shot clock implemented in order to encourage more end to end play in the overtime frame. I imagine this would work somewhat similar to how the National Basketball Association runs their own shot clock, although I'm not sure how you would punish a shot clock violation in the NHL.

#2 Bear hugging.

Designed to be a way for defensemen to continue pursuing forwards that have their backs turned while minimizing the potential of hits from behind, Burke would like to see players allowed to bear hug when close to the boards. The move would work like something of a very light hold, but only for the purpose of allowing a player to chase down his opponent while minimizing a high impact when they both reach the boards.

#3 Bench doors.

Perhaps the most straightforward rule proposed by Burke, the banning of the use of bench doors during active play. Burke argues that all players can hop over the boards themselves and the injuries caused every season by open bench doors are simply not worth allowing them to be used during the course of play.

#4 Cap on icing.

By far the most interesting rule proposed by Burke, at least in my opinion, would be a cap on icing. Burke believes icing is simply a boring part of the sport of hockey and that teams should be limited in how often they can abuse icing the puck down to the opposite end. Burke would like to see a set number of icings allowed, with any time a team goes over that number resulting in a delay of game penalty for that team.