NHL committee recommends coaches' challenge for video review
The NHL/NHLPA Competition Committee has recommended several rule changes be put in place next season, including a coach's challenge for video reviews, the league announced Thursday.
The challenge would be adopted to review goals that may have been the result of goaltender interference or an offside play. In those two instances, reviews would be the responsibility of the on-ice officials. A coach cannot challenge after he has called his timeout.
The committee also recommended a change to the face-off rule calling for the player whose team is in the defensive zone to put his stick on the ice first. The current rule requires the visiting player to place his stick on the ice first. That rule will still be in effect for neutral-zone face-offs.
The face-off change is intended to increase offense.
“As a former centerman you always feel you have a little more of an advantage if you can get in there second,” Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said in March, according to NHL.com. “To try and help the offense, why not try it? I think it's a good idea.”
• MUIR: Blackhawks' unsung hero
No changes will be made to the overtime rules, including the shootout.
The American Hockey League had experimented with a new overtime format this season where the teams skated 4-on-4 for the first three minutes of the seven-minute overtime and 3-on-3 for the rest of the period. If the game remained tied after seven minutes, a winner was determined by a shootout. The change resulted in 76.3% of games being decided in overtime, up from 35.3% the year before.
- Dan Gartland