As a lifelong hockey fan who grew up in Minnesota, this writer likes the post-lockout rule changes that have given the game back to the speedsters and finesse players and eliminated much of the clutching and grabbing that slowed the game down. There's nothing like seeing the fastest players skating full throttle on the attack. Hockey's meant to be a game of speed.

It doesn't matter to me whether the changes produced more scoring, as a 2-1 nail-biter is every bit as exciting as a 7-6 game. That's a position shared by Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, who had these words when the story surfaced last week that the NHL is considering larger nets.

"The league thinks that the number of goals scored determines how exciting a game is, but that's not it," said Brodeur. "It's the scoring chances and it's the number of great saves that count just as much as goals."

The NHL remains concerned about leaguewide goal scoring, which was a legitimate issue going into the lockout. Goals had dropped to 5.14 a game in 2003-04, the year leading up to the lockout, and that was the fewest per game since the 1955-56 season. The average peaked in 1981-82 at 8.03 and stayed between 7.50 and 8.00 through the mid-1980s before the decline started.

The leaguewide average, however, was 6.05 last season, the first time it was higher than 6.00 and the highest overall since 1995-96. It's down a bit this year at 5.83, but still higher than any season since 1996-97. Many NHL officials apparently believe the next step is going with larger nets.

One gets the impression that the marketing types in the NHL offices are frustrated basketball fans. Games could generate scores that we find only in the NHL All-Star game.

"If they make the nets bigger, players are going to shoot from everywhere," Brodeur pointed out. "Does the league really think 8-7 and 9-8 games are going to make hockey more popular? I don't know too many hockey fans who want to see that."

Perhaps the proponents of larger nets believe they will attract more marginal fans who would come out once or twice a season to see a high-scoring sport. That's not a sure thing, and maybe the NHL should consider whether 12-8 scorefests will cause more true hockey fans to give up on the game.

After all, the tried-and-true fans are the ones who have kept the NHL from financial disaster after taking a year off. There are risks in changing the product so dramatically from what made it a great game for generations, especially when the game doesn't really need fixing.