NHL Roundtable

Greetings, puckheads!  What's your pet peeve NHL rule?  For warped minds, the instigator rule leaps to mind as something that makes hockey less of a great game than it used to be.  Ditto for some of the interference and diving rules -- there was nothing like a good Dino Ciccarelli dive to get fans and players on both sides all jacked up -- and that abominable trapezoid thingy has gotta go.  The NHL has made a thimbleful of smart changes (ignoring the red line for the 2-line pass rule leaps to mind) but IMO, most of the rules ideas implemented by the league since the 1970s has taken the sport backwards.  And the Warped Hall of Shame winner is:

The non-respect for the goalie's crease.  Unless I'm missing something, the whole purpose of making the goalie's crease bigger (and giving it a pretty shade of blue color) was to give goalies a chance to do their jobs.  Then, some genius decided that players should be allowed to occupy space in the crease (or skate through it) as long as they don't interfere with a goalie's chance to make a play on the puck.  This leaves making a call (or non-call) up to the referee's discretion, and in my book, the last thing the NHL (or NFL, or any other league, for that matter) needs is more opportunities for referees to screw up.

My vote is that only a goalie should be allowed in the crease.  Period.  Any crease violation that is not a result of a player being pushed into the crease by a goalie's teammate should result in two minutes.  It might be painful for the first few weeks of implementation, but once players figure out that a crease is for goalies only, they'll adjust their games accordingly.  If the league is unable or unwilling to protect goalies within the rules, then they should at least cut goalies some slack if they decide to protect themselves outside the rules.  Billy Smith had the right idea in his heyday with the Islanders: "if I can reach you with my stick, you're too damn close."  Going for the net, setting screens and hunting for rebounds is one thing, but warped minds have seen too many goalies get bowled over in their crease, with no justice handed out to the offending party.  It's only a matter of time until someone blows a knee out and possibly has his career ended by an injury that should never have happened.

What are your thoughts on the sanctity of the goalie's crease?  And what other NHL rules stick in your craw?

Teams wrapped up their wheeling and dealing on Wednesday.  In total, 22 trades were made on March 4, with a record 47 players being moved in the process. But for all the players who made a move, it seems the real story is a number of big names are still with their teams (Florida's Jay Bouwmeester, Anaheim's Chris Pronger, St. Louis' Keith Tkachuk).

So I'll throw it out to you guys. Who were the winners? The losers? Which deal impressed you the most? Raised some eyebrows? Seems like a total bust?

Were any of your favorite teams/players involved in a deadline move? What did you think of those moves (or lack thereof)?

Greetings, hockey fans!

We've set up a new feature here on CBSSports.com, the NHL Roundtable, where our staffers and some of the top users in our hockey community discuss the latest happenings in the world of hockey. We'll be posting a different topic every week and following up at random times throughout, so be sure to check back often to see what our rants and raves produce.

In the meantime, time for some introductions...