Toews, Crawford and many more have ideas on how NHL can get better

The National Hockey League has had its share of rule changes over the years.

Some - like changing overtime to 3-on-3 or introducing a coach's challenge - have been fairly drastic. Others - like making goalies trim the size of their gear - are enacted and all but forgotten.

The question is, what else could be done to improve things? It's a question I posed to players, coaches, executives and media members. Today begins a two-part series that reveals their answers.

The schedule

The 82-game NHL season is a grind. So much so that players talked with great passion about how they would fix this grueling - some would say unfair - part of the game.

• Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews' suggestion is to allow divisional opponents to play two games in two or three days at one location. "When you play a playoff series, you go play two games there and then you come back. So why can't we do that during the season?"

Toews was adamant that this would help keep everyone's energy level up as the season progresses.

"It's constant on the plane, on the bus, on the plane, on the bus," Toews said. "Just for one game here, one game there? That's frustrating.

"If I go to Dallas or Denver or Winnipeg - all those two-hour flights - I'd like to go there, play a couple games and not go back the rest of the year. Go play two in three nights or back-to-back and then see ya later.

"It just seems like everything's chopped up now. It's brutal."

• Corey Crawford wants the season to start in mid-to-late September so teams can play three games a week and never back-to-back. "It's only going to make our games faster and give teams a rest. You won't get those game where teams are waiting for other teams just to pound on 'em. Get rid of the back-to-back games. Enough with that. Guys are tired, guys get hurt. It's too high a level to ask these players to compete night in, night out like that. It doesn't make sense. Somebody's got to say something about it."

• Artem Anisimov is OK with back-to-backs, but only if both games are at home. "(Sometimes) one game starts at 7:30, the next game (in another city) starts at 6. How are you supposed to be recovered after that? You go to the airport, fly, drive home. How are you supposed to recover and play at a high level the next game? It's painful for the body."

• Connor Murphy's solution to the back-to-back issue is to reduce the number of games from 82 to 75. "Spread out games more so you don't have awkward breaks. Try to make the schedule more consistent."

Playoffs/standings

• Marcus Kruger wouldn't mind seeing teams getting 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for an overtime or shootout win, 1 for an overtime loss and zero for a regulation loss.

"If you can put up three wins in a row with 3 points, that's huge," Kruger said. "Right now it feels like both teams are so afraid. That point is huge. … If you have a good overtime or shootout team, you might be a little more careful (at the end of regulation)."

• Nick Schmaltz of the Arizona Coyotes and Brandon Saad of the Hawks would seed the playoffs 1 through 8, rather than the way they're done now where the top overall seed plays the second wild-card team and the second- and third-place divisional teams automatically face each other in the first round. "Some (divisions) are better than others in certain years," Schmaltz said. "The Metro in the East, every year it's Pittsburgh-Washington. … Nashville-Winnipeg last year could have been the Western Conference Final."

Said Saad: "When I first came into the league, that's how it was. You seed 1 through 8. I like that where you're seeing someone new every time rather than seeing these powerhouses playing in the first round and then you see a good team go home. I know you're going to have to face them eventually, but being a traditionalist, I kind of like that old system."

• Joel Quenneville said he would add four teams to the playoffs - two in each conference. The former Blackhawks coach would create a play-in round in which the No. 7 seed faces the No. 10 seed, and the No. 8 seed faces the No. 9 seed. He wasn't quite sure if it should be a one-game, winner-take-all scenario or a three-game series. But he did say it would add quite a bit of excitement to the end of the regular season.

Goalie issues

• The Blackhawks' Cam

Ward would love to eliminate the trapezoid behind the net. "There's an art and a skill as a goaltender to be able to play the puck behind the net and not feel like you're teetering along the lines of a penalty. Also, D-men in this league feel a lot of pressure. The game is really fast and they take a lot of hits behind the net. Goalies playing the puck can probably prevent a lot of that."

•  Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild wants 3-on-3 overtime stats for goalies to become a separate category. He believes a goalie that plays in 15 to 20 OTs is at a "huge disadvantage" stats-wise compared to one who plays in 10 or fewer. "Every shot in overtime is pretty much a Grade-A chance. So you're not comparing what a typical good save percentage (or goals-against average) would be. In overtime, every 4 or 5 shots (might be) going in. Not every 12, 13, 14 shots."

The Blackhawks' Collin Delia is the perfect example. His goals-against average is 3.00 in nine games, but he's lost three games in the first two minutes of overtime. Take those out and his GAA would be 2.69.

Game play

Hawks D-man Erik Gustafsson

believes that the puck-over-the-boards penalty should be changed. Right now it's a penalty if a player throws the puck into the stands from the defensive zone. Gustafsson would like to see that extended all the way to center ice. "I've been on the ice when guys are tired, they go over their own blue line and they just flip it up. In the playoffs two years ago in Sweden, guys did it all the time."

•  Minnesota's Zach Parise and former Blackhawks forward Jamal Mayers believe a player should have to control the puck before advancing it into the offensive zone. Said Parise: "I've got a lot of rule changes, but I think they've got to do something where you can't just slap the puck up the ice, tip it in and go forecheck. I would love to see that gone somehow. You should have to make a pass to get up the ice. … For people to be able stand behind their own net, take a slap shot up the wall and let someone tip it, it just takes the skill out of the game. If you have to carry it up, there's going to be more turnovers and more scoring chances the other way."

• Vegas D-man Nate Schmidt thinks the NHL should take a page out of the NFL rule book and make a play onside as soon as the puck touches the white when it goes over the offensive blue line. "Right now the puck has to be fully over," Schmidt said. "I think it would make things so much easier. … Just like a goal line - a guy breaks the plane and puts the ball over - it should be onside."

• St. Louis Blues D-man Colton Parayko wants a subtle change to be made in the faceoff circle. Right now, if you win a faceoff, but the man you went up against cheated, the referee blows the play dead and the faceoff is reset. Parayko said play should continue. "It doesn't happen very often, but you just notice it. It's one thing I've always thought about."

• Predators forward Ryan Hartman wants there to be a time limit on replays. "If it's not clearly obvious in 30 seconds, leave the call as is. You can sit there and slow stuff down - go frame by frame - for two minutes and eventually you're going to think you're seeing something."

A few more

• Duncan Keith believes coaches should not be able to call a practice or morning skate for 12 hours after the team's plane lands. "It's tough on people's bodies," Keith said. Right now, the CBA calls for at least nine hours off "between the time that they arrive at the team's hotel on a road trip" and when they must report to practice or a "work-related activity."

• Chris Kunitz would like to see the NHL go back to having just one coach on the bench.

"Make the players use their brains and talk it out a little more. It seems like over the years we've added a few more coaches. It would obviously be a tough task to get everybody to communicate and on the same page, but it would make for some entertaining bench talk, that's for sure."

• Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf wants more accountability from the referees. "I feel like they should have to A) face the press and B) do a better job translating it to the ice for the players. We should have meetings with them before the season. I feel like too much is in their hands. To me the game is going the wrong direction. They have too much power in how the game goes - from the flow of the game to penalties to everything. The flow of the game sucks. They're kicking guys out of draws. They're worried too much about controlling the game."

• Former Hawks goaltender Scott Darling and Predators forward Filip Forsberg want to see players participate in the Olympics again. Said Forsberg: "Growing up I was watching all of the Olympics and obviously my biggest memory was when Sweden won the gold in 2006. It's a great honor on the biggest stage possible for your country. I don't see why we wouldn't be there."

•  Las Vegas forward Ryan Reaves wants to get rid of the instigator rule. "Make hockey violent again. Guys can take liberties on players without repercussions. That didn't happen back in the day. You had to answer the bell if you did something stupid. Now you can get away with being a little rat."