Overall, the NHL is in a good place. This isn’t a “the sky is falling” article — instead it is focused on a few changes that will improve an already good product.

If I were NHL commissioner for a day, here are six changes I would make.

#1. Limit contract length of players 28 years of age to five years

Next season, there are currently 67 skaters and seven goalies who fall into that category. That is roughly 9.6% of current NHL players. This rule change will benefit the league and players. The top-end players who are currently on 6-8 year deals would become UFAs earlier, thus increasing their odds of a higher salary after five seasons, while teams would have fewer players performing below their AAV in years six to eight.

Teams can still sign young players to longer-term deals. Starting September 15, the maximum contract length will go down to seven years, and six years for unrestricted free agents. The NHL, and NHLPA have realized that longer-term deals aren’t good for the league or players. But I would only instill the five-year limit on players 28 years of age or older. Teams could still sign players who are 27 and under to seven-year deals. History shows that the contracts that often age the worst are signed by players 28 . This reduces wasted money for the league, and the players who are still producing into their 30s will have more available cap space for themselves.

#2. Back-to-back games against the same opponent

Teams would have four sets of games where they would play the same team on consecutive nights in the same city. Each team would have two at home and two on the road. These games would be either divisional matchups or teams in your conference, as you wouldn’t want it to work for east-west teams, as they only........

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