Bill Meltzer: Selling the Call: My Issue With NHL Replay System

Paul, I've always felt you were one of the BETTER officials on the ice, Kerry Fraser also comes to mind. That being said, there are 5 guys eating Chinese food with 5 sets of eyes reviewing what could be be the most pivotal play or goal during the game, from multiple angles, and have more time to "get it right". Most NHL officials do a pretty damn good job under tons of pressure. However, limiting the amount of influence by any ONE person, can't be a bad thing.

Paul, I've always felt you were one of the BETTER officials on the ice, Kerry Fraser also comes to mind. That being said, there are 5 guys eating Chinese food with 5 sets of eyes reviewing what could be be the most pivotal play or goal during the game, from multiple angles, and have more time to "get it right". Most NHL officials do a pretty damn good job under tons of pressure. However, limiting the amount of influence by any ONE person, can't be a bad thing.
- Hokeeguy9

Paul's point of view here is that the on-ice official's input should be included in the decision (ala ECAC), not that there shouldn't be video replay at all.

I always felt that of the 4 sports, the NHL was closest to getting it right when it came to replay. IE having a central location where all goals where reviewed.

The Malhotra play in question was ridiculous. That was clearly a goal. No kicking motion in my opinion. You are correct in saying that the on ice official should have some input in the decision and not just be arbitrarily over ruled, especially in a play like that.

Other times, as you said, the ref is clearly wrong, but mostly because he was out of position.

Paul's point of view here is that the on-ice official's input should be included in the decision (ala ECAC), not that there shouldn't be video replay at all.
- bmeltzer

I think it's a bad example. Malhotra clearly attempted to "get" the puck with his foot, in my opinion. There isn't a "distinct kicking motion", I guess, but there is certainly a hockey player's natural inclination to try to get the puck to your stick, which he did. He altered the position of his foot.

Paul, like others on here I have enjoyed reading your articles.

I wanted to get your thoughts on another goal scoring replay situation. What do you think about having some sort of sensor inside the puck that could be used to determine when/if it crosses the goal line? Every so often there is a play where the puck is underneath the goalie and is moving around and at the same time, there is a delay between when this happens and when the referee blows the whistle. In some cases it is impossible for both the referees and the cameras to see the puck because it is under the goalie. Even if the puck is past the goal line when it becomes visible again it is not really possible to determine if it went past the line before or after the whistle through any currently available means. Using something like this would obviously also mean that the replay would have to include the whistle (properly synced up, of course), which I think it should anyway.

Also with a sensor in the puck it would be possible to determine how much force was applied in redirects with a skate. That certainly shouldn't be the only factor taken into account but the referees and Toronto can use it when trying to determine if there was a distinct kicking motion.

I know that technology like this is possible because even back in the 90's for some of the All Star games the pucks had something in them that the cameras used to illuminate the puck on TV screens (I wouldn't want it for this because it was annoying to watch as a viewer but I think it could be helpful in determining goals).