An idea to address interference and "pick" plays

[gottabekd]

Watching Vancouver the other night, they frequently ran interference down low in the offensive zone. Often, when one Canuck had the puck down in the corner, another Canuck forward would skate up to the Flames defender, blocking him, and allowing the puck carrier some time to move away into the freed space. Nothing much, hard to call a penalty every time (because they would be assessed a penalty almost every offensive possession), but annoying nonetheless.

The NHL Rulebook: http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/rulebook/rule67.html

From my reading, Vancouver was guilty of a "pick" on more than a few occasions last night. Not to say that they are the only team guilty of this (I recall Dallas doing it often too), and not to complain about the reffing last night (Hey, the Flames won!). It is just something that annoys me.

What I'm suggesting is for borderline calls like this, the play is blown dead, and is treated as an offside. The face-off comes out of the zone. No two minute penalty is assessed, but it deters teams from using such tactics. Yes, more whistles is usually a bad thing. But either it is legal, or it isn't, and as it stands I don't see this penalty called by the rulebook. Why not change the rules then?

Now, myself I'm not sure if this is actually a reasonable idea or not. It changes how games are called, it changes the power of the refs, it adds more whistles. I don't think this is one of the biggest problems in the game right now, and I don't think changing the rules every season is the way to go about fixing every "problem". I'm just hoping to open up some discussion about "pick" plays, and see if I'm the only one that gets annoyed by them.

[SebC]

Frankly, I'm entirely sure where they're not allowed in the first place. Just acknowledge that they're not getting called, and never will be, so why not make running picks a legitimate offensive strategy?

[MelBridgeman]

Notice that too - although in the playoffs, i am not sure if they will be able to get away with it, without the other team complaining to the series manager. There is the solution right there.
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[kn]

If you just get in the player's way, don't grab him or knock him down, I don't see why this shouldn't be allowed.

[Regorium]

You know the flames do this a TON too right?

I always wondered if it was legal or not.

[otisthedog]

You know the flames do this a TON too right?

I always wondered if it was legal or not.

the flames don't do enough of it. running obstruction via the pick seems to be something the refs just about never call. I remember watching colorado use this play on us over and over to set up a forecheck the last time we played. I kept yelling at the tv for the flames to do the same thing, but nope just kept trying to pass to an open man instead of creating space by placing a body to interfere with the checker.

I play a lesser known game called ultimate. It is extremely fast moving and athletic when played properly. You have to rely on speed and good "cutting" to get open. The pick play is illegal and play stops immediatly when someone is picked. When I was younger I used to play this game well and on highly competitive teams. I remember playing a lot of big games with other competitive and skilled teams and the "pick" was not a big factor. Now that I am older and play in a recreational league where the skill level is much lower I have noticed that some players use this strategy to get open almost exclusively. Sometimes it is so frustrating to constantly have to explain to the guy why I am calling a pick. The pick is illegal in ultimate because of the speed and lack of protection on the body. when somebody runs you into another body the collision can be devastating. Anyway, the relationship I am getting at is once again a skill thing vs. a not so skilled thing. I have noticed a lot of the weaker teams, skill wise, use the pick to obtain open ice. the skilled teams use it less.

[HOOT]

Reffing in the NHL is brutal...gotta live with it.

Gotta love that "trip" called on Lombo, and then that "trip" called on Tangs...Tangs actaully threw a body check and called on a trip haha oh man what a joke.

But then again Canucks have been getting gifts all year long...

[domingo]

Minnesota does that (running interference) a lot also.

[gottabekd]

You know the flames do this a TON too right?

I always wondered if it was legal or not.

I'm a homer, and I don't see the Flames doing this very often. But on some teams, the pick is a set play on their PP.

Hey, if the refs don't call it a penalty, it is a good play. Maybe the Flames SHOULD do more of this?