Red Wings GM Ken Holland just took care of his biggest concern by signing Nicklas Lidstrom to a one year deal earlier this week. He'll now focus his attention on changing some of the regular season overtime rules.
↵Holland believes the shootout is deciding too many games, and is in favor of extending the regular season overtime to an 8-10 minute period, instead of the current five minute frame. This proposal is one of several the NHL general managers were expected to discuss at meetings yesterday in Philadelphia. He even talked about possibly making half the overtime three-on-three.
↵↵↵"I'd like to see more games decided in overtime than shoot-out," Holland said Tuesday. "I don't mind the shoot-out, I just don't want the shoot-out to decide so many games."
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As everyone knows, the Red Wings were atrocious in shootouts this year, going just 6-9 in the skills competition. Goaltender Jimmy Howard especially had a tough time, but Holland's motivation likely isn't just Red Wing-related. Philadelphia made the playoffs this season via shootout in the last game of the season, and I'm guessing Holland would like to avoid that scenario again by having more games decided in overtime.