Elliotte Friedman delivers inside scoop into two blockbuster changes that could be discussed in next NHL GM meeting

Now that the NHL trade deadline has come and gone, general managers have shifted their focus to the annual GM meetings that begin on Monday.

Every year, all 32 general managers in the NHL have a 2-3 day meeting about a week or two after the trade deadline. They discuss everything that's going on in the league and propose rule changes they'd like to implement or get rid of.

Sportsnet's NHL insider Elliotte Friedman shared the two topics he's keeping an eye on heading into the general managers meeting On Friday's episode of "32 Thoughts: The Podcast."

The first thing he mentioned was the length of overtime.

"One of the things I’m curious about is gonna be the conversation about overtime. And remember when we came out of the 4 Nations, there was that one six-minute overtime between Canada and Sweden. And I was definitely told after that event that it would be on the docket for the GM meetings," Friedman said (33:56).

His second topic was about the NCAA and CHL rule changes.

"The other thing is, and this is not a manager's thing, it's more collective bargaining, but last year the managers were made aware of it when they were at this particular meeting. They were told last year that the NCAA changes were going to happen, the ones that we saw with the CHL and the NCAA. And they were right, it obviously did happen," Friedman said.

... "I am curious to see if the managers are going to be told anything about, hey this is what the landscape could look like after the CBA is done."

The annual general manager's meetings begin on Monday and run through Wednesday in Palm Beach, Florida.

NHL players were divided on the idea of a longer 3-on-3 overtime

Not all NHL players were in agreement on making regular-season overtime longer following the trial run at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

As Friedman mentioned in his podcast, Canada and Sweden went to 3-on-3 overtime in the tournament opener, which lasted over six minutes before Mitch Marner buried the winning goal.

Several Canadian players were asked postgame about the length of the extra-frame and whether they'd want to see it implemented at the NHL level.

Connor McDavid was all for it, saying,

"I don't think anyone wants to go to a shootout. I think it's a great kind of trial run. It felt a little more like it's in our hands".

Fellow superstar Nathan MacKinnon wasn't as keen on the idea. He said,

"No. We were actually just talking about it in the room. Maybe seven. I usually feel better than that normally."

Any rule change requires a collective agreement between the NHL and the Players' Association.