The NHL GMs met today for their annual pre-draft meeting and one of the recommendations was to change the punishment for a failed offside challenge to a 2 minute penalty instead of the loss of a timeout.
Quote:
Elliotte Friedman @FriedgeHNIC
The NHL is looking at a penalty for an incorrect Coach's Challenge. Colin Campbell: "You better be sure" when you challenge.
|
The GMs recommendation has to first go to the Competition Committee, then get approved by the Board of Governors. There is hope that if this has support, it will be implemented by the start of next season.
If approved by the BOG, this change should greatly reduce the number of offside challenges we see during the season. It should especially eliminate the "Hail Mary" challenges where the coach uses it more as a way to get a longer timeout after a goal.
For example, does Pittsburgh challenge the Subban goal in Game One of the Final if they're risking being shorthanded for two minutes while Nashville has all the momentum?
This change would only apply to offside challenges and not to challenges for Goalie Interference.
I still hate the whole offside challenge idea, but this would be a minor improvement to a bad rule.