NHL and union come to consensus on making visors mandatory for new players

TORONTO – The NHL competition committee has reached a consensus to make visors mandatory for all players entering the league.

Tuesday’s meeting at the NHL office in Toronto also paved the way for hybrid icing to be tested during the 2013-14 pre-season while shallower nets were also given the go-ahead.

Any changes must first be approved by the league’s board of governors.

That includes a change that makes all four-minute high-sticking penalties subject to video review.

But the grandfathering of visors was the biggest progress.

Mathieu Schneider, a former NHL defenceman and special assistant to NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, said a “clear majority” of players supported grandfathering visors.

But he declined the say what per cent of players voted in favour of the change in an internal survey.

An equipment subcommittee will be launched to look at not just goaltenders but skaters as well. General managers voted in March to shrink certain goaltending equipment.

GMs also wanted hybrid icing, but that will get just a trial run in exhibition games instead of full implementation.

Under the hybrid icing rule, players race to an imaginary line across the faceoff dots instead of the goal-line. The change is intended to prevent serious injuries.