BOCA RATON, FLA.

The NHL Players’ Association is intrigued by the idea of 3-on-3 but is cool to extending overtime.

As a result, the NHL could have some work do to sell a proposed overtime format.

As the league’s 30 general managers wrapped up their three-day meetings Wednesday at the Waldorf Astoria Boca Beach Club, representatives of the union – Joe Reekie and Steve Webb – sat in to listen to changes the NHL wants to make.

They didn’t exactly rubber stamp the ideas, though.

Before implementing either the American Hockey League’s rule – three minutes of 4-on-4 followed by four minutes of 3-on-3 – or a straight five minutes of 3-on-3, the union representatives want to discuss it amongst themselves at their annual board meeting in June.

“We’re still not sure on 3-on-3, 4-on-4 whether it’s a five-minute or a seven-minute procedure. But the question is to have more games decided in overtime than in the shootout,” said NHL senior vice president Colin Campbell Wednesday.

“One point we made is if they felt the extra two minutes was more stress on their players, the point I made in talking to our managers was: There’s going to be a little less stress on probably, arguably, your most important player, your goaltender, who will have less shootouts to face. He obviously faces the most stress in every shootout. There’s a give and take on that one if that’s their concern. So we made that point in the overtime.”

Webb, a divisional player rep, wasn’t really tipping the players’ hands. They didn’t do a lot of talking in the meeting but they did do a lot of listening.

“I know 3-on-3 is a big topic right now. I think the players are having conversations about it. I think it intrigues the guys, to see what the effects are going to be like playing 3-on-3,” said Webb. “Most players in the league have not played a long time, usually it’s what, 30 seconds that you get an opportunity to play 3-on-3 so that hasn’t really been coached yet or perfected on how you do it or how you execute or what’s your strategy.

“They’re kind of intrigued about the whole opportunity to participate on the three-on-three.”

Campbell said there is no room for negotiation on either scenario if the players somehow think they want to make changes to what the NHL is proposing.

“They mentioned that and at this point I don’t think so. I think our managers are content.

“They were looking at what they use in the AHL and there’s a reason you use that in the AHL for a whole season, to see how it works. And we got feedback from the AHL coaches, a number of players, and a lot of our managers have been at their team’s games,” said Campbell.

“The one thing we have to look at is the hard whistle or the first stoppage because the 3-on-3, the whistle never happens at the three-minute mark of 4-on-4 so you weren’t getting a true three and four minutes. You were getting five minutes of 4-on-4, or five and a half minutes. You see overtime, overtime runs a long time now before a whistle.”

Webb said the players who score goals will like the idea.

“I think the offensive guys like the opportunity to add more ice to showcase their abilities. Again, we’re always going to have those conversations with the players,” said Webb. “They’re going to provide us feedback and direction on how they feel about the game and how they feel about that extra workload and width around the ice.

“So right now there hasn’t really been a consensus of what the guys are thinking just because we haven’t talked to more of the players.”

Not everybody thinks the players will balk at the idea of the change. Though it sounds like the league wants the AHL rule more than the players do.

“I think we’re on the same page but what they always do is go back to their membership and they talk to all of their players,” said Nashville Predators GM David Poile.

bruce.garrioch@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @sungarrioch