When the NHL went dark for the 2004-05 season and the owners’ lockout, Brendan Shanahan, then still a player with the Detroit Red Wings, organized a rules summit in Toronto, where he gathered thoughtful folks from all walks of hockey life.

While the league and the players association were trying to figure out the business of the NHL, Shanahan and a host of players, coaches, executives, officials and television people got together to try to fix the game. The summit would help to eventually breathe new life into the bogged-down game. It was opened up with the removal of the red line, stricter enforcement of obstruction rules, the behind-the-net trapezoid, touch-up offsides, the shootout to decide tie games and other tweaks, some of which were suggested by the summit. A rules committee with player input was also instituted.

Well, it looks to these eyes like the game is in need of another soul-searching summit. On too many nights, the NHL product has been tough to watch.

Just as an example, the Bruins played a couple of entertaining games last week, entertaining mostly through the sheer brilliance of David Pastrnak, but there have been so many duds this year. A late, tying goal and a shootout win for the B’s over Carolina disguised what had been a dreadfully boring three periods. Back-to-back losses to Ottawa and Calgary over Thanksgiving weekend were paint-drying affairs. In the B’s 2-1 win in Buffalo last Saturday, the teams combined for 69 shots on net, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one that came off an odd-man rush.

This is not about the Bruins, but the state of the game. There are somnambulant contests across the league on a nightly basis. And it’s not as much about a lack of goals — a 2-1 game can be every bit as entertaining as a 4-3 contest — but how the goals are scored. There have always been clunkers, but at least in the past there was a good chance it would be quickly livened up with a fight. Those days are fading into the history of the game.

NESN analyst and former Bruins winger Andy Brickley was a participant in Shanahan’s summit and he agrees that it’s time for another hard look at the game, and perhaps even reverse some of the suggestions of the Shanahan summit that originally worked so well.

One of the burgeoning debates has been whether or not to reinstitute the red line to outlaw the two-line pass again. Proponents of that measure are in favor of it from a safety standpoint. Despite the lack of entertainment on many nights, it is still a frighteningly fast game. But some also believe it would also spark creativity and playmaking in the neutral zone.

Brickley, for one, is in favor of keeping the red line out, but he understands why the debate is happening.

“I don’t know, but I just hate the ping-pong game,” Brickley said. “These teams that are, in theory, fast teams, they just wire it up, deflect it in and then try and forecheck. That’s not hockey I want to watch. The red line forced you to make plays in smaller areas to advance the puck. But if you go back to that, are you going to get the New Jersey Devils all over again. And I don’t want to see that. We’re seeing it now with Ottawa” and coach Guy Boucher’s 1-3-1 system.’

What Brickley would like to see is implementation of a full two-minute penalty for the violation, regardless of how many goals are scored. He’d like to see the coaches’ challenge, which so often overturns a goal because of a offside that did not benefit the scoring team, tossed from the books; the delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass to be a judgment call for the refs; and the league to continue looking at streamlining goalie equipment.

Brickley doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but believes it’s time to revisit things again.

“Harry (Sinden) talks about putting these labs together where you get some junior players, you put them on the ice, say, ‘Here are the rules, and let’s see what it looks like,” Brickley said of an idea advanced by the former Bruins GM and president. “I’d love to be a part of something like that. I know they try things out in the AHL and that’s fine, but I’d like to see something in the summer. . . . Put the red line back, see what that looks like (in a testing situation). . . . What if the goalie could play it anywhere but in the trapezoid (to prevent playing the wraparounds)? Let’s see what that looks like. I’d be willing to take a look at that.”

The game may not be in need of the kind of overhaul that took place coming out of the ’04-05 lockout. But it’s in need of something. And until the coaches apply more of their evil genius toward offense instead of defense, the NHL game will need constant tweaking.

This week’s B’s timeline

Tomorrow, at Montreal, 7:30, p.m. — The Habs have come back to the pack a bit, and are now dealing with long-term injuries to centers Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais. Might be a good time to get them.

Wednesday, at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m. — The Pens are starting to look like the defending champs, but they’ve brought out the best in the B’s in recent years, especially David Krejci. It’s the first meeting between the Bruins’ David Backes and the Pens’ Phil Kessel since their indirect war of words over the World Cup.

Thursday, vs. Anaheim, 7 p.m. — The second half of back-to-backs can be tough, and if the B’s play the Ducks like they played the Avalanche last week, it could be ugly.

WITH VEGAS DUTY, EX-B’S OFFICIAL HAS TASK: TAKE BACK THE KNIGHT

Congratulations are in order for Bruins media relations man Eric Tosi, who completed his last day on the job last night before he moves on to take over the media relations operation with the new NHL franchise in Las Vegas. The Beverly native had always done whatever he could to make this reporter’s job easier and listened to the inevitable gripes with a reasonable ear. He’ll kill it in Sin City.

Now for his first order of business: Tell owner Bill Foley to forget about the Golden Knights name, which ran into a road block from the United States Patent and Trade Office last week when it denied the organization’s trademark request. The NHL said it’s just a minor formality, but this is a good time to abandon that name.

The moniker of the team, without question, should be the Vegas Rat Pack. You could work in some pucks and a stick in a Martini glass for the logo. Top it off with a fedora. Merchandise would fly off the shelf. And for an entrance song? I’d go with Dean Martin’s “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” but the possibilities are endless.