I've received questions a few times in our Live Qs chats asking what rule changes I'd like to see happen in the NHL.
There are a couple of things I'd like to see change, but the simplest answer just involves reverting one rule back to what it was two seasons ago.
The NHL modified the rule involving coach's challenges ahead of the 2019-20 season. Previously, teams had to have their timeout available to challenge a call. If they lost the challenge, they lost their timeout as a result (unless the challenge was for offside, a failed challenge for that drew a minor penalty beginning in 2017). If you ask me, charging teams a timeout appropriately limited the number of challenges a coach might make. If they lost the challenge, then charging the team its timeout seemed fair, since they essentially just used that video review period as a timeout anyway.
In 2019-20 the NHL expanded video review (theoretically, a move aimed at getting more correct calls), but also implemented a new rule to make coaches more reluctant to challenge anything. Now, anytime that a team challenges any call and loses the challenge, they get a minor penalty. That escalates to a double-minor with subsequent failed challenges. No team wants to go straight to the penalty kill after just allowing a goal, so the consequence is big. That threat could lead to a coach not challenging a call that he may have won.
"The theory there is we don't want lots and lots of challenges," Gary Bettman said at the time. "We don't want to disrupt the flow of the game. We only want challenges where it's crystal clear that an egregious mistake has been made. If it's, 'Well, maybe it could be, maybe it shouldn't,' then there shouldn't be a challenge."
I was under the impression that ideally, the league would like the game to be called accurately.
The rationale is goofy, though. Did anyone think that failed challenges were ruining the flow of games before? How often is a mistake "crystal clear" immediately after the goal anyway? If it were "crystal clear" right away, it probably would have been called accurately in the first place. The point of challenges is to correct those iffy "Well, maybe it could be" calls that officials have trouble calling accurately live given the speed of the game.
I'd like to see the NHL go back to the old consequence for a failed challenge.
YOUR TURN: What do you think of last season's rule change?
