It’s time for the NHL to expand 3-on-3 overtime to 10 minutes

It seems that the NHL is always willing to evolve its game and it’s time for the league to extend overtime’s duration for everyone’s sake.

It was a dark, dark time for the NHL and its fans when the league experienced its first-ever lockout that canceled the entirety of a season back in 2004-05.

Oh, how much the game has changed since that time, and for the better.

Hockey returned the following season and provided the fans with a few new wrinkles and rule changes to the game. The most popular modification was adding in a shootout after overtime expired, which meant that the term “tie” was erased from the NHL’s vocabulary.

The reality was that the shootout was majestic when it first took to all 30 NHL arenas across North America.

There was the occasional old-school fan who disliked the dynamic and concept that a game was being decided by a “skills competition” and not how hockey itself was meant to be played out. That occasional fan may have become the norm for NHL fans alike via 2019-20.

At the time, five minutes of overtime hockey was painful because those sitting at home or in their seats at the arena wanted the best entertainment the game was offering after regulation – the shootout.

Now, over a decade later, the shootout has lost its flair and it seems that expanding the duration of 3-on-3 overtime would benefit everyone. In fact, the action to change the overtime frame from 4-on-4 to 3-on-3 in 2015 was aimed to reduce the number of shootouts the league was experiencing at the time.

Still, here we are four years later and, again, it’s time to add in a new wrinkle to lessen an aspect of the game that once had every fan standing from their seat in a hockey arena.

The ECHL began an experiment this year with a rule change – by expanding overtime from five minutes to seven. Fans may or may not be able to thank the league for the test run.

Should the NHL consider seven minutes or 10 after this season?

While two minutes added on does have a big impact in a game like hockey, the league should just expand overtime’s length to 10 minutes at the outset. You’d have to think for the better, or worse, that more games will be decided while avoiding a shootout.

One could argue, however, that it would ruin the pace of the game and overall product.

Perhaps a 10-minute 3-on-3 overtime would be too long and would tire players out to the point where sloppy play is too evident and tired skaters unable to move would impact the outcome of games.

It’s a fair point, but the chances are that teams would have to utilize more of, or its entire, bench for the extended frame. That aspect could create opportunities for coaches to portray their creativity and open new doors for the game’s overall play that were never imaginable years ago.

Keep in mind that players and coaches could take another perspective and turn up the pace of 3-on-3 overtime, considering that there’s more of an urge to end the game sooner and avoid having the extended frame wearing out a team’s skaters.

The NHL has never been shy to take a leap of faith and experiment – so why not? Extend overtime to 10 minutes.

Plus, who wants to be eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs on the final day of the regular season after losing in a shootout?