Brian Burke believes extra 5 feet of ice would yield 'big difference'

Never short on ideas, Brian Burke has unearthed another.

The president of hockey operations for the Calgary Flames believes an extra five feet of width on the ice surface "would make a big difference in the quality of hockey" in the NHL, TSN's Bob McKenzie reports.

"If you really think about it, it's crazy that we are still using the same size ice surface as we started with in hockey," Burke said. "The players have gotten so much bigger and stronger. There's not enough room out there. It's too congested."

This isn't his solution to the league's ballyhooed scoring drought, though. He said the idea spawned when he was with the Vancouver Canucks and saw the skill on his team neutralized, in part, by traffic.

"I thought the size of the ice surface affected my team's ability to excel. That's where it started for me," he added.

According to McKenzie, the infrastructure inside most arenas wouldn't allow for Burke's proposed plan, but he'll continue championing the idea anyway.

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