The Red Line and the Ringette Line: What's the Difference? BOCA RATON, Fla. - The N.H.L. general managers rejected a measure that would have made the two-line pass illegal, as it was before the 2004-5 N.H.L. lockout. So N.H.L. defensemen will still be able to make long-bomb passes from deep in their own end all the way to the far blue line - like this one by the Rangers" Michael Del Zotto: But although the G.M."s like the spectacle and speed of such plays, they see this kind of pass as a cop-out, a lazy way to avoid carrying the puck up the ice. Often the main idea isn't to make the kind of X-ray pass Del Zotto made in the clip above, but rather simply to tip the puck so it goes all the way to the other end without being icing. Moreover, the managers fear that the threat of the easy stretch pass is discouraging opponents from forechecking, leading to the boring tactic of sitting back in the neutral zone and waiting for the other team to come out. So they have decided to ask the American Hockey League to experiment next season with something called a ringette line, named after the line that extends across the top of the faceoff circles (see the ringette video at the top of the post). The idea is to make defensemen advance the puck to the ringette line, and only then will they be allowed to pass to the far blue line. If they make that long pass across the center red line before they reach the ringette line, it will be an offside pass - a three-line pass, actually - and play will be whistled dead and there will be a face-off in the defenseman's end. The ringette line idea has been attributed to Scotty Bowman; some refer to it as the Bowman line. The rationale behind it was explained Tuesday by Toronto General Manager Brian Burke. "I think we want to look at the ringette line in the American league," Burke said. We've got too many young defensemen already just hammering the puck up the wall. Burke had also discussed his theory Monday, the first day of the G.M. meetings. "They've got two forwards waiting at the far blue line; it's not exciting," he said. "You have a tennis effect in the game, where if you're a fan in the building you're going like this" - here Burke moved head back and forth - "and that troubles me at times." Explaining another reason the G.M."s wanted to study the ringette line, Colin Campbell, the N.H.L. director of hockey operations, pointed to a Lightning-Flyers game last November, in which Tampa Bay refused to forecheck and, as a result, Philadelphia refused to advance the puck: "As it is now, teams can just lay back and wait as a way of defending against the long stretch pass - that happened with the Lightning and the Flyers," Campbell said. "But having the ringette line in there encourages teams to forecheck, because defensemen can't make that long pass until they've made it to the top of the face-off circle," he said. They can go in on the forecheck and try to get the puck. If the A.H.L. agrees to try the ringette line in the 2012-13 season, it may come before the general managers next March. If they vote to recommend the rule change at that time, and it is subsequently approved by the N.H.L. Players" Association and the board of governors, the soonest it can become a rule is at the start of the 2013-14 N.H.L. season.