I respectfully disagree with two of your three requests.

1. I wish hooks to the elbow were always called. You can’t shoot with a stick in your elbow. Plus, it’s a lazy player’s play. Lazy play should always be punished.

2. I wish those face-wash scrums around the net were never called unless the game gets out of hand. Penalizing all scrums in the NHL is like penalizing all trash talk.

I do agree on consistency. When you see a completely different set of rules in a Fraser game than you see in a McCreary game, there’s a problem.

Posted by Steve from Pittsburgh on 03/31/08 at 03:31 PM ET

It is fine to disagree with me Steve and maybe if we see the consistancy, all the other things would be handled accordingly.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 03/31/08 at 03:35 PM ET

Scrums are useless.  It doesn’t prove anything except that as long as it’s allowed, players will take advantage of it.

I always look at football as an example of why scrums make hockey look bad.  In football, you have players creaming each other as hard as they can and doing their best to knock their opponent down (and out).  And when the play is over they help each other back up and pat each other on the back.

In hockey, you get into a “stick” measuring contest to see who can puff up their chest the most.  It’s ridiculous and cheapens the game and the players.  Honestly, when was the last time a run-of-the-mill scrum put you on the edge of your seat?

I’m fine on protecting the goaltenders but half the time these scrums break out because players were trying to - legally - bang home a rebound. Or in the case of Edmonton, someone breathed on Roloson

Posted by Shane from Saskatoon on 03/31/08 at 04:55 PM ET