Selling your soul

After more than 400 days, the NHL returned to the ice on Wednesday night. No small feat considering they had lost an entire season and nearly all of their great reservoir of goodwill over their labor dispute with the players.

Straight and to the point, the league has made a number of changes--all aimed at one thing it would seem--designed to invigorate the game. Rule changes created to increase scoring have been implemented in the hope of attracting fans back to the action.

I can't help but think they've sold their soul in some desperate attempt to regain what they threw away last year. But I've always been a traditionalist; I winced and winced hard when MLB added the Wild Card.

Maybe it'll work. Attendance on opening night was high, and might have reflected the desire of the die-hards to get back to the game, making me wonder, rule-changes or not, if people would have been in the seats regardless.

Time will tell as with any experiment.