When the NHL resumes play in the fall, and that now looks as though it will happen, the marketing slogan will be, "A Whole New Game."
No kidding. Let's call it the NHL equivalent of extreme makeover.
Changes are coming, big changes, so let's start with what we know for sure.
Goalies will be sporting a new streamlined look. Eleven-inch goal pads. Smaller blockers and catching gloves. Less bulky uppers, pants and new form fitting sweaters.
The tag up offside will be re-instituted.
The goal line will be moved two feet closer to the end boards, creating more room to operate in front of the net instead of behind it.
More penalties will be called. And not just in the neutral zone. The goal is to open things up down low, eliminate stick and pins on non puck carriers, end the defensive zone rodeo. While skepticism is duly noted, that's the plan.
Those are the 'for sures,' next come the 'highly probable.'
These changes appear virtually certain to be coming in one form or another, and it's just a matter of nailing down the specifics.
Shootouts. No more tie games. It's a bone being thrown to the fans, but what remains to be seen is perhaps more noteworthy than the shootout itself.
There's also talk of four minutes of four-on-four overtime, followed by three minutes of three-on-three overtime before getting to the shootout.
There's talk of three points for a regulation time victory and maybe no point for losing in overtime or the shootout.
Aside from trying to make shootouts something special - not a routine occurrence - the goal is to encourage teams to try to win games, win them early, not avoid losing them.
Then there are the lines. The blue lines will be made fatter, another effort to increase the size of the offensive zone.
The red line? It's going, going, more than likely gone. Either two line passes will be allowed all the time or the red line will disappear once the puck crosses the 'Bowman' or ringette line across the top of the circle.
There will be some form of restrictions on goaltenders handling the puck in their own end.
Icing will be different. It could be no touch icing. It could be linesmen using discretion on missed passes. It could be no icing allowed on the penalty kill, or no line change for the team that iced the puck. It could be all of the above. Whatever it is, icing will be modified.
Finally, there are more radical ideas whose time has not yet come, such as bigger nets, and penalties for illegal defence - read the trap.
The big nets, in particular, had more support at the recent research and development camp than expected. If the planned initiatives don't have the desired effect next season, big nets could well be on the horizon.
But then that's a decision to be made - one day - by the newly-born competition committee, where players are to have greater say on how the game is played as the general managers, who have traditionally overseen rule changes.
There will be nine men on this new competition committee, including four players. TSN has learned that Trevor Linden, Brendan Shanahan, Rob Blake and Jarome Iginla are the players.
There will be four general managers - Edmonton's Kevin Lowe, Atlanta's Don Waddell, Nashville's David Poile and Montreal's Bob Gainey. There will also be one representative of NHL ownership and that will be Philadelphia's Ed Snider.
NHL executive vice president and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell will not sit on the committee per se, but will oversee it.
Add it all up and you'll see the NHL's goal is to emerge from the darkness of the past year and venture into a brave new hockey world. How successful that proves to be we won't know until we get a good look at the new, and hopefully, improved on-ice product.
For TSN.ca, I'm Bob McKenzie.