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NHL Announces Stricter Enforcement For Cross-Checking

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For months now, there has been reporting indicating that the league was going to put a new focus on cross-checking this season, penalizing it more strictly. Today, the league even released a video announcing its new, stricter enforcement guidelines, giving examples of the kind of plays that will now be expected to draw penalties. Examples along the boards, in front of the net and in open ice on the rush are shown. Though the league is clear this is not a rule change, it is a change to the interpretation of rule 59 which currently reads:

Cross-checking: The action of using the shaft of the stick between the two hands to forcefully check an opponent.

The wording is not being changed, but the video explains that it is a judgment call made by an official that will be done differently this season.

Although not a change to the rule, beginning in the 2021-22 season, there will be a stricter enforcement of rule 59. 

Officials may allow players to use the shaft of the stick to guide or push an opponent without assessing a penalty. However, if the guiding or pushing is judged to be excessive, an interference penalty may be assessed. 

Players and coaches alike have long cried out for change to the cross-checking enforcement, given the punishment that has been allowed in front of the net. If this rule is truly enforced differently this upcoming season, there may be a significant change to the way players defend, especially on the penalty kill. As with any judgment call though, it remains to be seen how strictly the officials actually call these listed offenses.

General Managers Vote To Amend Offside Rule

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During the second day of the general manager meetings in Florida, the group of NHL executives have voted to amend the offside rule, according to several reports including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The proposed change would see the rule no longer require a skate to be touching the ice, but over the plane of the blue line.

This does not mean that the rule is immediately changed. The amendment will have to go through the league’s Competition Committee and then be voted on by the board of governors.

Since the introduction of offside challenges, there has been much debate over whether the rule should be changed. Many reviews produce inconclusive evidence when the requirement is contact between the blade and the ice, leading to incredibly tough decisions for officiating crews. With the proposed change, one can imagine how much easier it would be to determine if a skate is still over the blue line, however there are obviously still going to be difficulties in certain situations.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic notes that other things on the agenda today at the GM meetings were reports on puck and player tracking which is set to begin in the playoffs, and on player safety.

NHL Releases Detailed Rule Changes For 2019-20

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The NHL’s Public Relations team has released a video updating all of the rule changes for the upcoming season, agreed upon earlier this year. The five-minute video goes in-depth on each change, noting that the focus was on expanded video review, promoting player safety and encouraging more offense. The full list is as follows:

Video Review:

Referees will be required to review any major or match penalty, excluding fighting majors. The penalty can be confirmed or reduced to a minor penalty, but not completely rescinded.

The officials can also review any double-minor high-sticking penalty, and either confirm or rescind it if it wasn’t an opponent’s stick that caused the damage. It cannot be reduced to a minor penalty.

In both cases, review will not be used to call a penalty, only review. It also cannot be used to increase a penalty from a minor to a major.

Coaches Challenge:

In addition to offside and goaltender interference, coaches can now challenge plays in the offensive zone that should have resulted in a stoppage but did not prior to a goal. The examples given are pucks off the spectator netting, a hand pass or high-stick.

All three categories now result in a two-minute minor penalty for the first unsuccessful challenge, and a four-minute double-minor penalty for the second unsuccessful challenge. Plays in the final minute of the third period and overtime will be automatically reviewed by the league situation room.

Helmets:

Rule 9.6 – A player on the ice whose helmet comes off during play shall be assessed a minor penalty if he does not either exit the playing surface or retrieve and replace his helmet properly on his head within a reasonable amount of time. 

“Reasonable” is at the discretion of the referee. A player who intentionally removes an opponent’s helmet, will be assessed a minor roughing penalty.

Line Changes:

Teams will no longer be allowed to execute a line change if their goalie initiates a stoppage on a puck shot from the other side of center, or if the net is unintentionally dislodged by a defensive skater (does not include the goaltender). In either case, time-outs are also not permitted.

Face-Offs:

Face-offs will take place in zone where puck was shot out of bounds from, regardless of which team shot it.

The offensive team will be allowed to choose which face-off location following an icing, following a goalie stoppage from behind the red line, following a defensive skater unintentionally dislodging the net, and on the first face-off to start a powerplay.

 

Rule Changes For 2019-20 NHL Season

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The NHL has introduced a number of rule changes for the 2019-20 season, approved by the Board of Governors and Competition Committee. The changes are meant to address several situations that occurred in the previous season and playoffs, while also improving safety and offensive opportunities. The rule changes are as follows:

Expansion of coach’s challenge:

Not only will teams be allowed to challenge for offside and goaltender interference, but now a third category has been added. Coaches can choose to challenge a goal that follows a play in the offensive zone that should have resulted in a play stoppage. This includes a puck hitting the netting above the glass, one that his touched with a high-stick, or hand passes. The challenge will only be allowed if the puck did not come out of the offensive zone between the missed call and goal.

Several instances led to a call for this, most notably the San Jose Sharks’ overtime winner in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final. A hand pass was missed that directly resulted in an Erik Karlsson goal.

Penalties for coach’s challenge:

The challenges are no longer limited by a team’s availability of a time out. Unsuccessful challenges now have escalating consequences, with the first resulting in a minor penalty and any subsequent unsuccessful challenge resulting in a double minor penalty. These consequences now apply to any of the three challenge categories: offside, goaltender interference or missed play stoppage.

Review of major/match penalty:

Referees are now required to conduct a mandatory on-ice video review for all non-fighting major or match penalties. The officials can either confirm the call or reduce it to a two-minute minor, however they are not allowed to rescind the penalty completely.

Cody Eakin’s five-minute penalty for cross-checking Joe Pavelski is likely the culprit for this change, as the San Jose Sharks ended up scoring four times on the ensuing powerplay to take a lead in Game 7 of their first round series.

Referees can also conduct an on-ice video review of double minor high-sticking penalties to determine whether it was actually the correct stick being penalized. These are not mandatory.

Helmets:

A player who loses his helmet in the course of play must either exit the playing surface or retrieve and replace the helmet immediately. Not doing so will result in a minor penalty.

Line changes for defensive team:

The defensive team can no longer complete a line change when their goaltender freezes the puck on any shot from outside the center red line. The defensive team may also not complete a line change if one of their players unintentionally dislodges the net from its moorings.

Face-offs:

Following an icing that coincides with the beginning of a powerplay, the offensive team chooses which face-off dot to use. Any puck that goes out of bounds in the attacking zone will result in a face-off in that zone, regardless of which team was responsible.

Awarded goal: 

If a goaltender deliberately dislodges the net from its moorings on a breakaway, a goal is awarded to the attacking team.

Competition Committee Submits Rules Recommendations

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The NHL and NHLPA released a joint statement this evening outlining the changes recommended by the Competition Committee, which wrapped meetings today. The players’ side, led by NHLPA Special Assistant Mathieu Schneider, included Ron Hainsey, Connor Hellebuyck, Connor McDavid, John Tavares, and James van Riemsdyk. The league side, led by NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Opertations Colin Campbell, included Craig Leipold, David Poile, Ken Holland, Doug Wilson, and Steve Yzerman. Together, the group came up with some intriguing ideas for consideration.

The most notable suggestion, as well as the most expected one, was expanded access to video review and coach’s challenges. Few details were disclosed as to the specifics of expanded review, other than allowing referees to use video review to review calls on the ice. However, after a postseason in which incorrect calls has drawn so much media scrutiny, it’s fair to assume that changes are coming to review procedures to help remedy that situation.

Another suggested rule change bound to draw some attention is a change to the the tie-breaking procedures used to determine final regular season rankings. While the joint release did not outline the proposed changes, Sportsnet’s Elliott Friedman believes that the preference of the Competition Committee is to use simply regulation wins rather than “ROT”, regulation and overtime wins, as the primary tie-breaker. If adopted, this rule change could very well see more teams looking to end games in regular time as opposed to playing for overtime, especially late in the season in a tight playoff race.

Other suggestions included changes to face-off locations based on icing, pucks out of bounds, power plays, intentionally knocking the net over, and goalies unnecessarily freezing the puck, as well as a rule that would require players to leave the ice if their helmet is knocked off during play.

These rules suggestions still need to be approved by both the NHL’s Board of Governors and the NHLPA’s Executive Board, and many of the proposed changes will require more detailed presentations, as well as considerable discussion. After suggestions are adopted, the language will be formalized and they will officially be indoctrinated into the NHL rule book. Stay tuned for further updates on these possible rule changes when these governing bodies meet later this summer.

Gary Bettman On Video Review: “A Blessing And A Curse”

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Before game one of the Stanley Cup Final kicked off tonight, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley gave their annual “State of the NHL” press conference. One of the biggest questions on hockey minds around the world right now is video review and the possible expansion of the process in the future. Speaking to reporters including Frank Seravalli of TSN, Bettman called video review “both a blessing and a curse,” admitting that the Competition Committee would discuss the issue again when they meet in the near future. The league wants to avoid “destroying the essential fabric of the game” with too many reviews.

Expanding video review is not what everyone wants, but when asked about the possibility of a reduction—specifically in regards to the offside review process—Bettman indicated that it would not be possible at this point, using the phrase “that ship has sailed.”

Given the way things have gone in the playoffs, especially with regards to the San Jose Sharks, there was always going to have to be a longer discussion on video reviews. The Sharks were involved in two key incidents that drove public outcry for expanded review rules. First, Vegas Golden Knights forward Cody Eakin was given a five-minute major for cross-checking Joe Pavelski which the league eventually apologized for. Pavelski suffered a serious injury, but the Sharks were able to score four times during the ensuing powerplay to pull ahead in a deciding game seven. Next, a hand pass was missed completely in overtime of game three of the Western Conference Final, leading to the game-winner by Erik Karlsson. The league once again admitted that the call was missed, but nothing could be done.

Those may have been the most notable incidents given their game-changing nature, but they were obviously not the only missed calls throughout the playoffs. The question for the league to answer is when will does review expansion stop, if not now. The game isn’t yet riddled with stoppages and called to Toronto’s war room, but it also is still missing or making the incorrect call at key times.

Rule Recommendations From GM Meetings

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The GM meetings in Florida this week have resulted in several rule change recommendations, as detailed by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic on Twitter. The front office executives will suggest to the Competition Committee that a player who loses his helmet during play must immediately leave the ice surface or be penalized, as well as a change in faceoff alignment following a penalty call. The suggestion is to have the team who receives a power play choose which side the initial faceoff will be on in the offensive zone, potentially giving them a higher chance of winning it. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports adds that the league is also expected to remove exception iv from Rule 15.5, changing where the initial power play faceoff will be following an icing on a delayed penalty.

The league also expressed an interest in making helmets mandatory in warm-up and having clocks on the boards in all 31 rinks. One-minute penalties in overtime, an idea put forward this week, did not receive enough support to be submitted to the Competition Committee.

Meetings like this often end in discussion over major rule changes, but it seems as though this year had very few “hot-button” issues to deal with. The league instead was interested in addressing smaller tweaks and minor safety issues. That has riled up fans and media around the league who believe the playoff structure should have been front and center at the meetings, which it apparently was not.

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