The Players Still See Red

Remove the red line or keep it? In a poll, we took the pulse of NHLers

In a random SI survey, 74 players were asked if they were in favor of eliminating the red line to increase scoring and excitement. The results:

YES 17
NO 54
UNDECIDED 3

Despite playing their amateur careers solely on rinks that use international rules (no red line), 17 of the 23 Europeans we polled were against removing the red line (two were undecided). As for results by position, 14 of 21 defensemen were in favor of keeping the red line as were two of three goalies (one undecided). Surprisingly, 38 of 50 forwards (two undecided) agreed that the red line should stay. Also, vets and youngsters had similar opinions: Players 30 or older voted 25-9 to keep the red line while those under 30 voted 29-8 (three undecided).