Overtime modifications on table at GMs meeting

Ken Holland has long been one of the leading proponents of extending overtime to decide more games before the shootout, and the Detroit Red Wings general manager said Tuesday he thinks the support for such an action is growing among his peers.

Overtime was one of the popular subjects at the general managers meeting in Toronto. Holland has proposed in the past to have five minutes of 4-on-4 overtime followed by five minutes of 3-on-3 before a shootout. Different proposals or amendments to the current overtime format were discussed Tuesday, and OT will be discussed in further detail at the next get together between the League’s GMs in March.

“We talked in there and we’re going to talk again in March,” Holland said. “There seems to be some interest in maybe expanding overtime another couple of minutes. Whether it remains 4-on-4 or goes from 4-on-4 to 3-on-3 certainly seems to gaining some traction and we’re going to have a long conversation about it in March.”

Beyond Holland’s proposal, there was also discussion about extending 4-on-4 to 10 minutes, or somewhere in the middle to seven or eight minutes. St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong and Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman both said they were proponents of extending 4-on-4.

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