TORONTO (CP) - One of the most radical experiments that will be tried during the three-day NHL research camp next week would obliterate obstruction and free up skilled players to score more goals.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Get this: the blue-lines are replaced by thin lines five feet from the top of the faceoff circles.
''Once you get past the pass line, you can pass anywhere on the ice,'' says Boston general manager Mike O'Connell, who developed the idea with Bruins president Harry Sinden after giving it a test with their AHL farmhands on Fleet Center ice in February.
The change would allow forwards more freedom to find open ice, significantly reducing the ability of checkers to obstruct their movements.
''Harry and I kicked it around,'' O'Connell says of the idea. ''We're trying to find a way to open the game up.
''A lot has been said about obstruction. We feel the ice surface, as it is, makes it difficult to get away from obstruction. You watch old games on TV and most teams were focused on scoring. Now they're focused on defence. This is a framework to make it harder to defend.''
Anything to negate neutral zone trap defences would be a blessing.
''A player like Bobby Orr, whose skills were so well displayed when he would carry the puck at high speeds with great puck control, I don't think he could do that today because of the traffic they set up between the blue-lines,'' says Sinden. ''That area can get jammed up by as many as 10 players at a time.
''That was not the case even 10 years ago. It is now, and nobody has really been able to solve that. I'm not sure our plan would solve it, and I'm not on a crusade about this thing. This is just an attempt to try something different. People can judge it. When we tried it, we figured we'd get rid of (the idea) after looking at it but it looked so good we felt it should be displayed elsewhere so others could comment on it.
''It's just an attempt to open up the ice so we could put players like Mats Sundin and the other great players on display better than we do today.''
It might be revolutionary, adds Sinden, but so was introduction of the centre red line in 1943, and it's still there.
The camp begins Monday at an airport-district rink. Overage free-agent junior players form the nucleus of the players recruited to practice a variety of innovations which also include bigger nets and smaller goalie equipment.
''I think it's a terrific step for the NHL to try some ideas,'' O'Connell says of the inaugural camp. ''Hopefully, it's something we'll do every year.''
Goalies' leg pads will be narrower in some of the drills.
''I think it's a terrific start,'' says O'Connell.
No-touch icing, as used in international play and many other pro leagues including the AHL, will be studied.
''I'm not a big fan of it,'' says O'Connell, who offers other suggestions on how to generate more offence.
For one, the number of faceoffs could be reduced by awarding a team control of the puck if an opponent ices the puck.
''You think of some of the things other sports do and wonder why wouldn't they work in hockey?'' he says. ''They have foul shots in basketball.
''How about, when you get a penalty, instead of putting a guy in the penalty box, award a free shot? That's the type of thinking we need to do to try and make the game more entertaining. No idea should be discarded. We should look at everybody's ideas.''
The camp is the start.
''The camp will open up minds,'' says O'Connell. ''If we continue to hold camps like this, mechanisms will have been put in place to evaluate suggestions.
''Evaluate them, test them in this camp, and we'll all have a better idea of their effects. We've been reluctant to change in the past but now that we have this mechanism in place it'll give us the basis to make more informed decisions when it comes to changes if changes are needed.''
O'Connell and many other GMs, and some head coaches, will observe. Activities on the ice will be filmed so the experiments can be further analysed.