The NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp is an annual two-day event held by the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

for the purpose of testing potential changes to the rules of the game of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

, ranging from the subtle variety to the more drastic kind. The event allows the NHL to experiment with potential changes to the game, while using top prospects for the

NHL Entry Draft The NHL Entry Draft (french: Repêchage d'entrée dans la LNH) is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirem ...

as guinea pigs in the on-ice experiments. NHL commissioner

Gary Bettman Gary Bruce Bettman (born June 2, 1952) is an American sports executive who serves as the commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL), a post he has held since February 1, 1993. Previously, Bettman was a senior vice president and general cou ...

describes the event as “an opportunity to try new things, look at things, even if we never implement them”.

References

{{Reflist National Hockey League Research and development in North America