A low scoring All-Star Game: what else is new?

The Eastern Conference All-Stars beat their Western counterparts 6-4 on Sunday in a fast-paced,yet goalie-dominated, game. Future Hall-of-Famer and New York Ranger Mark Messier, participating in the weekend's festivities for the 15th and final time, scored a goal and set an all-star record by recording his 14th all-star assist.

Other standout performances included that of the Colorado Avalanche's Joe Sakic, whose hat trick for the West earned him the game's MVP award. The real stars, however, were the players in between the pipes. All six goalies had impressive showings, especially for a game that lacks any real checking or defensive intensity.

Even with such intriguing action, the big story of the weekend was the somewhat disappointing state of the sport. With goals being scored more infrequently than ever (around five goals a game compared to roughly seven and a half per contest 15 years ago), the commissioner and others analysts have been eager to provide possible solutions to bring the excitement back to the NHL.

Even respectable news organizations were getting a bit over-anxious about the lack of scoring.

According to espn.com, Sunday's game was only the second All-Star Game in the last 19 seasons with fewer than ten goals. It is true that some recent All-Star scores could be mistaken for those of a football game, and perhaps this weekend's game implies a larger trend in an increasingly defense-dominated league. But in this year's game the east scored six and the west scored four, which by my math is exactly ten, not less. There were indeed only two All-Star games with fewer than ten goals scored (1996 and 1986) in the previous 19 seasons, but this year's game was not one of them.

ESPN and the NHL have reason to fret about hockey's dwindling appeal - ratings on ESPN (0.5) and ESPN2 (0.2) for hockey are the lowest by far of any of the major pro sports (though ESPN's parent company, Disney, can't be unhappy with the cross-promotional synergy it achieved over the weekend for its film Miracle).

As a result, it seems the NHL can be expecting a considerable decrease in its U.S. TV contract; according to various reports, ESPN will not pay much more than half of the $600 million it currently does every five years to continue airing games.

It's with this in mind that many hockey observers have taken the liberty to suggest subtle changes in the rules that could theoretically boost scoring and increase public interest. Even NHL commissioner Gary Bettman admitted on Saturday during his All-Star weekend news conference that more offense would help the game's ratings.

Some of the ideas that have been thrown around to increase scoring make sense. Decreasing the allowable size of goalie equipment, using shootouts to decide games after a five-minute overtime, and moving the goals back a few feet to create more neutral ice are easy changes that would have tangible results. Ideas like prohibiting goalies from handling the puck behind the goal line are unnecessary confinements of player freedom.

Some fans, Inside the NHL included, have been enjoying hockey just the way it is. If, however, there must be changes, here a few poorly thought-out and, at times, radical proposals.

If ties are what viewers want eliminated, why not disallow goalies from even coming out on the ice for the overtime period? Some of the most exciting moments of a hockey game come when a desperate team pulls their goalie to replace him with an extra attacker. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would enjoy five minutes of utter chaos on the ice with a valuable point on the line.

To get the home-town fans more involved in the game, how about an instant fan poll (by way of applause) on which of their team's players should serve minor bench penalties (too many men on the ice, delay of game, etc.). All fans have some player on their team who they would rather see in the penalty box than on the penalty kill (the San Jose Sharks' Mike Rathje immediately comes to mind), and this idea would allow for the fans' displeasure to be duly noted.

Keeping with the democratic theme, another innovative suggestion to spice things up would be to force the team's players to "vote off" one of their teammates before each game, designating them free targets for the other team. The referees would not be allowed to call a penalty for this player- meaning the other team could do whatever it wanted to him with no retribution. The sacrifices in safety and team unity would be eclipsed by the certain increase in fan interest, albeit a sadistic one.

Though seemingly ridiculous, these ideas might be just what a struggling NHL needs to make the sport exciting again -- drastic times call for drastic measures.

Have your own suggestion for a new NHL rule, or any other comments? E-mail ideas to David_S.Mitchell@tufts.edu (note the underscore or else another ice-sport-oriented David will receive your note).