Hoeckey Voice puts in two cents and takes a penny for its thoughts

Hockey Voice editor Mark Taylor

Now the NHL playoffs are off and running and the Habs are lighting it up, the old FIHL is probably not on a lot of people’s minds but there are some burning issues which will have to be addressed before next season.

These thoughts are based on experiences I have had in other leagues and just some general discussions I have had with payers and reps alike.

1. Player draft – the league has completed 4 seasons and only two teams have won the championship, one team winning it three times. Something needs to be done to level up the playing field in the league and a draft will help to do that. Last place picks first, and so on.

2. Protected players – before the draft all teams will submit a list (pre-determined number) of players from their 2009-2010 roster that they will protect from the draft. All players not protected and new interested players will go in the draft. If you get picked a team and you don’t want to play for that team, too bad, catch ya next year unless the player can be traded (yes, I said traded) at the draft table.

3. Player trades and deals – teams should be able to move players or make deals with other teams in order to improve their squad. You shoudn't be able to to just trade away guys you don't want. You'd have to talk to all of your players prior to the draft to determine their plans. Example: The Ratz pick a brother of one of the other team’s players. It is felt he would rather play for another team, the two teams can trade right there and then. Another possibility can be a team may look at players available and make a deal that if they don’t pick this player, we won’t take this one. One possibility would be a geographical reason, as in the guy might be from St. Stephen or St. Andrews and may not want to play for a team down here (travel reason, etc.) or vice versa. If a deal can’t be worked out, the player will have to play for the team he was picked by, or wait until next year. This may as well be out in the open as deals will be made under the table and we may as well be upfront about it.

4. Shoot outs dropped from post season play – the NHL does this and everybody knows we are just under the NHL level, so this should be abolished. The league can afford to carry a few minutes extra ice time to allow this. Yeah, this has a lot to do with the Ratz being eliminated this way so now you don't have to say it or think it.