Quote[size=85]Players pile up in front of goaltender Garret Sparks during the Maple Leafs-St. Louis Blues game on Saturday night.

Goal production is down to 2.65 goals per game this season.[/size] (The Associated Press)

QuoteTORONTO — - I almost feel like a traitor writing this.



But the truth is, the last few years, it has been increasingly difficult to sit through an NHL game — and this from a guy who grew up playing and loving the sport.



There's something about the NHL game that turns me off now. Hockey people talk about how the skill level has never been higher. And they're right. But that's part of the problem — all these big, fast-skating players, and the fact that they're all playing suffocating, tight checking systems, have choked out space and time and with it offence and creativity. There's no room for dashing offensive play anymore. Why do you think 4-on-4 hockey is so exciting? Because there is room to create. There's room to skate.



Not only is goal production down this year (2.65 goals per game), the types of goals we see are often less than spectacular. The idea now seems to be just try to get the puck towards the net and hope for a deflection or a rebound. But even getting shots on goal is increasingly difficult with 10 big guys crowding the defensive zone and wingers diving at shots. So many shots and passes are blocked now, it's maddening.



Wayne Gretzky suggested in a piece by our Mike Zeisberger this week that perhaps the NHL should look into new posts that deflect pucks into the net as way of bumping up goal production in league. Not a bad idea, but to me the problem with the NHL now goes beyond just a lack of goals, though the league is seeing the fewest goals scored per game since 2001-02. It's a flow problem. The play gets bottled up in the neutral zone. Dump and chase has been around forever but now it seems one of the few options to create any offence.



You know what I find particularly disheartening? Seeing all these incredibly talented junior players come into the league, just knowing that their skill and creativity once they get into the NHL will be smothered.



I realize there are those who will argue that I'm wrong, that the game is better than ever. There's no denying the players are bigger, stronger, faster, but that doesn't translate into a better game. Is there a professional league anywhere in the world that agonizes over ways to improve the game as much as the NHL does? Is there a league with so many struggling franchises, season after season, as the NHL? Hands up all of you sick and tired of hearing about how the Coyotes, Hurricanes, Panthers, etc., have money and attendance problems. I don't understand how the NHL expects to attract new fans — people who didn't grow up with the game — with this brand of hockey. You actually think hockey is going to be a hit in Las Vegas? Ridiculous. It's just another cash grab (expansion fees) by NHL owners. Short-term gain for long-term problems.



I wish I had the answers on how to make NHL hockey more exciting, but short of widening the ice, I don't. But when you see the flow and flash of 4-on-4 play, you have to think that more room on the ice is the key.



Steve Simmons suggested in his Sunday column that perhaps the NHL should consider going to 4-on-4 for regulation time and 3-on-3 in OT, adding that likely will never happen. Too bad.



I've never bought into the argument that widening the ice a few feet on each side is something that can't be done. Sure you lose a couple of rows of expensive seats on each side, but if it improves the game isn't that better in the long run? There's the argument that widening the ice won't add anything, pointing out that European and international hockey can be just as boring.



And of course there's the argument making the ice bigger will take out hitting. I don't buy that either. That might be the case in Europe, but hitting in the NHL will always be there — unless the new breed of hockey people succeed in turning the game into basketball on ice with precious little contact.



Fighting is also largely diminished, which is an argument for another day. Personally, I believe fighting is exciting at the NHL level. Certainly not in kids' hockey, but NHL players know what they're getting into. As kids, if the Big Bad Bruins or the Broad Street Bullies were coming into town, we'd all get pumped up about the game and debate who on the Leafs was going to stand up to Stan Jonathan or Dave Schultz. I guess these days kids are supposed to get excited over whether the Leafs are going to go with James Reimer or Jonathan Bernier in net.



There are exceptions of course. There are still some great games. But too often NHL games get bogged down into two teams scrambling to find space and open lanes to the net. And it gets repetitive and boring.



I like hard-hitting hockey but I also like dash and flash and creativity, which we don't seem to get very much in NHL hockey anymore. Now I know why Don Cherry talks about how much he loves watching minor midget games.