TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun join Gino Reda to discuss the potential change that could see 19-year olds play in the AHL, new equipment requirements in the NHL, Doug Armstrong stepping down at Team Canada and more.

Gino Reda: Alongside the insiders, Pierre Lebrun and Darren Dreger. Gentlemen, up until now, when it comes to players playing in the Canadian Hockey League, NHL teams have had a couple of options. Allow them to play a few games, then send them back to major junior and they’ve got to stay there for the rest of the year, or bring them up to the big club and keep them in the NHL. An option they didn’t have was to send them to the minors. Could that change?

Darren Dreger: It could change, and I expect it will change, but what we don’t know is what those changes are, right? And it’s a complex and a delicate issue, I would say, between the Canadian Hockey League, which is of course comprised of the three major junior hockey leagues in Canada, and the National Hockey League.

There’s an agreement in place, and this has always been a sensitive one for NHL general managers, because as soon as they draft these kids as 18-year-olds, they want to control that property, especially developmentally. Why has the landscape changed? Well, largely because CHL players can now go into the NCAA. So, the belief is that if that 19-year-old isn’t playing in the National Hockey League, chances are he’s making the jump to Division I in the NCAA.

So, NHL clubs want to be able to protect these players, develop these players, but the CHL is also pushing back to say, look, there has to be some restrictions here. So, we’re talking about just first round draft picks. Does every NHL club only get one 19-year-old allowance? Is it four? I mean, there are a number of areas that have to be cleaned up. The president of the CHL, Dan MacKenzie, will be at the GM meetings on Wednesday. I don’t know if we’ll have a conclusion, but there will be more back and forth.

Reda: Another talking point on the day is, well it seems like Groundhog Day when it comes to goaltender interference, Pierre.

Pierre LeBrun: You know, it’s not getting clearer. Pat Verbeek sought clarification on this day within that room because he had a goal that they challenged last Saturday in Ottawa when Ville Husso was clearly contacted in his crease by Tim Stutzle. The goal stood. And the reason for it, as Colin Campbell explained on this day, was that they felt that the call on the ice on the two refs was a good goal and that there wasn’t enough evidence that Ville Husso couldn’t do his job.

I disagree. I think Pat Verbeek disagrees. I think a number of other GMs disagree. And this is a problem for the NHL. I mean, they spent a lot of time on this last year at the GM meetings, they gave us a presentation on it. But there’s going to be a moment in these Stanley Cup playoffs where what feels like a goal that should be disallowed is allowed to stand, and it could have an impact on a playoff series. And I don’t care what the league says; I don’t think they’ve cleaned that up.

Reda: Another topic of conversation is NHL equipment and specifically the clamping down of rules, Dregs.

Dreger: Yeah, and look, there’s going to be added equipment next year for non-NHL players and that’s the wearing of neck guards. I mean, we saw the stars of the game wear them without problem at the Winter Olympics. And it’s again, it’s an issue because how do you implement something like this and ultimately how do you police it? And my understanding is they’re just going to use the rule book and how specific it is to visor wearing, and the way you properly have to wear the visor.

So, they’re going to use that rule to enforce not only the visor usage, but also the mandatory neck guards for next year. So, we could see some of those improper equipment penalties early in the regular season.

Reda: Pierre, early Tuesday morning, you broke the story that Doug Armstrong is stepping down as a general manager for Team Canada. Where do we go from here now?

LeBrun: Well, it’s day one post-Doug Armstrong as GM of Team Canada. Scott Salmon from Hockey Canada has arrived here in Florida. He’s having a debrief meeting on Tuesday evening with Doug Armstrong, Don Sweeney, Julian Brisebois, Kyle Dubas, as well as Jim Neal and Ryan Getzlaf, and the rest of the management group.

And that’s where you start, because those are the early candidates to have a shot at being the next GM of Team Canada, best on best. There’s a World Cup in two years, obviously the Winter Olympics in four years. I think preferably Hockey Canada would like to have one GM do both events, but that’s not written in stone. First things first, do those GMs that I just mentioned, do they have interest in the job? I think we know what the answer is. And then they’ll go from there. But it’s a privilege. I mean, from Wayne Gretzky to Steve Yzerman and Doug Armstrong, not a lot of people have had the chance to be a GM at best on best for Team Canada. There’ll be a lot of interest.

Reda: And that’s a wrap for day two. Day 3, of course, we’ll feature the commissioner speaking. We’ll hear from Gary Bettman.