I agree on the sudden death excitement with NHL (I grew up playing hockey and used to follow NHL religiously); but didn't FIFA try that with the "Golden Goal"? Don't know why they dropped it, but they did.

As for when's the dead ball: I'd use a 10 or 15 seconds limit, no score by that time = dead ball and the other team takes their corner. These, and other details, is what FIFA should work out, I think.