On Tuesday, the general managers had a meeting and there are a few new rules that’ll potentially be implemented over the next few seasons, pending approval from the league’s competition committee and Board of Governors.
Unfortunately, the National Hockey League did not address how three-on-three overtime is played, the shootout and how it overstayed its welcome, or the salary cap in the playoffs. However, there are some pretty interesting rule changes.
Let’s take a look at the latest Around the NHL.
According to Elliotte Friedman, an immediate rule change is that players that aren’t on the ice can’t dangle their skates over the boards. It’s a warning at first, with the second infraction being a bench minor.
One immediate change: players will not be able to have legs over the bench/in-play while not on ice. Warning, then bench-minor if repeated
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2024
This is a reactionary rule change, and for good reason, as a linesman was recently cut by a skate in this scenario during a Winnipeg Jets/Minnesota Wild game about a month ago, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo.
Effective immediately, players can’t sit on boards awaiting line changes. A team will get warning first, then refs will be instructed to apply penalty that’s already in rulebook. NHL feels it’s not good hockey + dangerous. Linesman was cut by skate in Wild-WPG game by a Jet
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) March 19, 2024
It’s a good rule that keeps everyone on the ice safe. Moreover, players should have no problems adjusting to this.
How wasn’t this a penalty already? According to Friedman, goalies were added to the list of players that aren’t allowed to intentionally dislodge the net.
Rule 63.A (iv) adding goalie to list of players who can get a penalty for intentionally dislodging the net…
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2024
This penalty is already a rare call, so don’t expect it to be called often even though goalies 100% know what they’re doing when they push off the post and dislodge the net. A good example of this is when Toronto Maple Leafs’ netminder Matt Murray did it a handful of times last season.
Of course, you also have that one time when Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ netminder David Leggio decided to throw over his net instead of facing a two-man breakaway, leading to a penalty shot. This was an absolutely hilarious moment in hockey history though.
This rule won’t be enforced often at all, so expect nothing to change!
How many times has a goalie sustained an injury, just for their backup to be cold and allow a couple of goals after manning the pipes? Well, according to Friedman, a netminder entering the game due to an injury will get a warmup.
If goalie is pulled by concussions spotter/injury…replacement gets a warmup…
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2024
It doesn’t sound like a backup netminder replacing a struggling goalie performance-wise will get the same treatment, but this is a pretty good rule to add. In Major League Baseball, if a pitcher is injured, the new reliever replacing him will get all the time he needs to warm up, and this new rule is pretty similar to that.
Another goaltending rule, as Friedman reports that if a netminder’s mask comes off and the play is blown dead, the team that basically shot the puck at the netminder’s head will get an offensive zone faceoff on the side they choose.
If a goalie loses his mask and play is blown dead, other team gets an offensive zone draw with choice of dot, no matter where puck is on ice.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2024
Even if the puck is in the other offensive zone and there’s a good scoring chance, the puck will always be dropped to the left or right of the goaltender that lost his mask. This will encourage goalies to fix their mask if the puck leaves the zone, but all in all, it’s a small rule change that likely won’t impact the game all too much.
How many times have you seen a puck played with a high stick, and all ten players surround the puck like children around a campfire telling ghost stories?
Well, according to Friedman, if the opposing team that didn’t commit the infraction refuses to touch the puck, the faceoff will come in a zone better than where the puck was.
If a player refuses to play the puck off high-stick or hand-pass, non-offending team will get a faceoff one zone better than where the play occurs (ie, if it happens in the d-zone, it will be in the neutral zone).
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2024
An example Friedman gives is that if this happens in the neutral zone near the opposing team’s blue line, the game will be blown dead and the puck will be dropped in the offensive zone of the team that didn’t touch the puck.
This actually could make matters worse as the standing around the puck usually happens in the opposing team’s neutral zone. The puck usually isn’t touched because once it is, the game is back on and the team that committed the infraction is mere feet away from the puck carrier. It may be a smarter play for the defending team to just take the defensive zone faceoff.
Three-on-three overtime is a mess. When it was first introduced, it was a fun and exciting way to end a hockey game as there were a ton of odd man rushes with both teams trying to pick up the two points. After a few seasons, it has now become a slow and boring period where teams try and hold the puck for as long as possible to tire out the opposing team.
Of course, the league didn’t look to implement an over and back rule which would see the puck carrying team automatically lose it if they intentionally brought it over the blue line or red line. The only rule change that was brought up according to Friedman was making the period seven minutes instead of five minutes like how the ECHL does it.
No change to 3-on-3 overtime. Some talk about ECHL 7-minute OT, but no momentum
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2024
With an additional two minutes in the overtime period, the shootout would become even rarer, but it doesn’t address the root issue of the new overtime period – it’s incredibly boring to watch. One way to rectify this would be that there are no long changes, meaning teams wouldn’t switch nets after the third period ended. This would allow the defending team to change at least one player if the puck is brought into the neutral zone.
Alternatively, just bring back four-on-four and ties.
Why not slow down the game even more by adding additional plays that coaches can challenge. Friedman reports that the team that is called for a delay of game can challenge the play if they believe it was deflected.
New coaches challenge: if penalty is called for puck over glass, they can ask for a video review to prove it did hit something…this is only for when a penalty is called. Cannot be used to call a penalty on another team. KEY: if you are wrong on this challenge, it’s a 5-on-3
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2024
Additionally, a minor high sticking call can now be challenged to see if it was a teammates stick or their own stick. It used to be just a double-minor that could be reviewed.
New coaches challenge: if penalty is called for puck over glass, they can ask for a video review to prove it did hit something…this is only for when a penalty is called. Cannot be used to call a penalty on another team. KEY: if you are wrong on this challenge, it’s a 5-on-3
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2024
If a team loses a challenge and the penalty is upheld, they’ll automatically be down two men for a full five-on-three power play, so hopefully this deters teams from slowing the game down even more.
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