Dear NHL:

Over the past couple of decades, the National Hockey League has made several rules changes in efforts to make the game more appealing. While I think some of the changes have had a positive effect, I think there some changes that still could be made to improve the game and its appeal, especially to new fans.
This is my "if I were Commissioner" list of changes that I think would increase scoring, please fans, and make the game easier to understand. I guess this is really the list of things that annoy me most about the NHL right now. In no particular order:

1) Restore the crease back to a simple semicircle. Back in the 90s, the NHL instituted a new rule that made it illegal for an offensive player to enter the crease at all before the puck. Then the NHL decided that the violations were occurring too frequently, resulting in too many disallowed goals, so they made the crease smaller by chopping off the sides. So now the crease has this ridiculous squared-off semi-circle shape. But the crease violation rule was dropped years ago. The original semi-circle, which is still used everywhere else in the world, should be brought back to the NHL, if only to make it more consistent with international arenas. It would not effect the play, but it would make the NHL look less silly.

2) Remove the "trapezoid" behind the net. This rule was instituted several years ago to prevent goalies from clearing the puck out of the zone every time the offensive team tried the "dump and chase" tactic. In reality, I don't think this has made any real difference in the amount of offense. If anything, it slows down the play because instead of the goalie being able to make an up-ice pass from the corner, he is forced to wait for a teammate to skate all the way to the corner to retrieve the puck. The extra lines add more confusing lines to an already busy ice surface, and it's one more way the NHL differs from hockey everywhere else, including all levels of amateur hockey in the USA.

3) Restore icing calls on the penalty kill. I never understood this rule. Icing is called when the puck is shot from the defensive side of the center ice line all the way past the far goal line and no defending players have a chance to play the puck. But, if your team takes a penalty, you get the privilege of icing the puck at will with no recourse. In my opinion, a penalty is punishment, and the penalized team does not deserve any extra privileges. This would have several effects. It would increase power play scoring due to increased time in the offensive zone. It would speed up the game during power plays because there would be less of the advantaged team "re-grouping" behind their own net. It would eventually decrease the number of penalties, because when the power play effectiveness percentages rise from the current ~18% to 30% or more, players would have to learn to be more disciplined and take fewer penalties.

4) Restore O/T back to regular 5-on-5 play. The 4-on-4 overtime was an attempt to increase decided games. I don't think it necessarily has that effect, and it changes the entire complexion of the game. This means that the forwards have to play differently from how they normally play, and their teammates are not going to be where they might instinctively expect them to be. Also, this is one more idiosyncrasy of the game that requires extra explanation to casual audiences. The shootout already ensures there are no ties, so I don't think there is any reason to mess with the game in Overtime.

5) Go back to home whites. OK, this one doesn't really affect the game, but it sure would make a lot of long-time fans happy. The dark home/away white system has always seemed unnatural to me. And it has not transferred to any other league. I don't know why they made the change. I can only assume they thought it would somehow lead to more sales of jerseys or something, but I don't see how it really made anything better. Good guys wear white. Let the home team wear white.

Overall, the NHL needs to simplify rather than complicate. Every rule they make that adds another exception to an existing rule makes the game harder to understand for new fans. And new fans will be driven away by rules they don't understand. Simplify the ice layout, simplify the way rules are enforced, keep the game moving and keep scoring up. This is how to grow the game.