There will not be a second NHL outdoor game in Calgary on January 1, 2010.
The NHL's competition committee met today in Montreal and that was one of a number of issues that was dealt with.
While there won't be a second outdoor game to follow up the currently scheduled New Year's Day game at Boston's Fenway Park, there is likely to be a second special event in a Canadian city.
Sources say that event is possibly a game at Montreal's Olympic Stadium to celebrate the Canadiens' 100th anniversary.
In other business:
The competition committee agreed there would be no changes next season to NHL fighting rules. There had been recommendations from the NHL GMs to stiffen penalties for staged fights, but that won't happen now.
There will be no changes to the rules on head shots, but the committee did agree existing rules on hits to the heads and fighting should be enforced more, as opposed to making any rule changes.
The competition committee is continuing to work on reducing the size of goalie equipment and the issue of "proportionality."
There is also ongoing investigation into the concept of removable visors as some NHL fighters have indicated to the NHLPA they would rather keep their helmets on during fights for safety reasons but visors are often an impediment to doing that.
The competition committee consists of Jason Spezza, Ryan Miller, Jeff Halpern, Brian Campbell, Mathieu Schneider, Lou Lamoriello, Bob Gainey, David Poile, Ed Snider and Don Waddell. The committee is co-chaired by NHL VP Colin Campbell and NHLPA director Glenn Healy.
