Spin-O-Rama: In Memoriam

The 'Spin-O-Rama' move, as described in Section 24.2 of the 2013-14 NHL Rule Book, will no longer be permitted either in Penalty Shot situations or in the Shootout.

Noooo! Damn you NHL suits!

While I accept that a lot of the rule changes introduced a week ago are good, especially the diving and overtime changes, banning the Spin-O-Rama is just not cool.

The Spin-O-Rama is fun, it's a perfect example of skaters showing off, and why shouldn't they? The NHL is the best hockey league in the world. It's skaters have the best skills in the world. The issue with the Spin-O-Rama is that when taking a penalty shot, they puck isn't allowed to stop moving. With the 360 movement of the spin, the puck definitely looks like it stops. Whether it does or not has been debated in sports bars all over the world.

Why not remove the constant movement rule? Instead of restricting the movements the attacking skater can make, let them do what they want, as long as it doesn't take away from the game. The SuperSkills competition is cool, why not bring some of that to the game?

Possibly inspired by the FIA's plans to remove all excitement from Formula 1, removing the fun stuff from hockey seems dumb. I see no positive outcome to the ban. You wouldn't remove step-overs and overhead volleys from soccer or hail-mary throws from football*.

Mr Bettman, if you're reading this, please allow the skaters to show off all of their skills. The fans love it. Just watch this:

Rant over. It'll be October soon.

*This will probably happen soon.