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One of these years, possibly as soon as next season, the NHL is going to institute a "coach's challenge" wherein coaches can send certain on-ice calls to Toronto for video review. The NHL Competition Committee has recommended it yet again, and this might be the year it becomes reality.
As usual, though, the committee (which, as always, completely excludes on-ice officials and supervisors from the process) has come up with a half-baked idea befitting its half-witted chairman. To wit:
The Committee recommends that a Coach's Challenge be adopted for expanded video review for goals that may have resulted from (1) goaltender interference and (2) offside plays. The video review process and all decisions on goals where goaltender interference may have occurred will be the responsibility of the Referees at ice level, in consultation with the NHL's Situation Room in Toronto; similarly, goals that may have resulted from an offside play will be reviewed and determined by the on-ice officials, in consultation with the NHL's Situation Room in Toronto. In order for a coach to make a challenge, the team must have its timeout available.
As I have documented in several past blogs, Rule 69 (goaltender interference) and its subsets are a chronic trouble spot for the NHL. Why? Because it is very poorly written and sometimes self-contradicting. I would venture to say that very few NHL coaches could ace a test on the permutations of Rule 69 -- including the nuances of a) how incidental contact is defined and b) which situations call for a goal to be allowed based on incidental contact and when the goal should be permitted.
Last year, I wrote a blog with an overview of the clumsily written rules pertaining to 10 of the dozens of potential scenarios of goaltender interference around the net.
Here's a radical idea: Rather than doing the equivalent of shuffling around the deck chairs on the Titanic, how about we clean up and clarify the rule in question first? How about we coach our officials to have the best possible positioning to make the right call in the first place?
How about we actually make coaches put something of value at stake if they are going to use their coach's challenge? Rather than risking being charged with their time out (which more often than not goes unused anyway), make the stakes a delay of game penalty if the on-ice call is upheld.
Besides, there may be a legitimate need to call timeout earlier in the game. It doesn't make a lot of sense to have to hang onto a time out on the chance there's a goal ruling later on that the coach believes should be sent to video.
As for the offside goals, are we really going to take review of goal sequences all the way back to the blueline? If we are doing that, how about a missed hand pass back in the neutral zone that creates an odd-man rush and eventualgoal? How about the eventual goal scorer jumping onto the ice on a premature substitution on a line change that gets allowed?
Yes, it stinks when an offside call is missed by a linesman and, a couple seconds later, a goal is scored. Such plays tend to stand out in people's memory -- Game Six of the 1980 Final perhaps being the most enduring -- and no one feels worse than the official when he later realizes the call was missed.
But let's be honest here: How often do these dual circumstances (missed offside AND goal scored) actually arise? Thankfully, it's not common. Yes, there were a couple times it happened this year -- and since the Dept. of Hockey Ops operates on a reactive basis -- it is entirely predictable that suddenly there's a recommendation to expand video replay to this narrow situation.
Have the ramifications of such a procedure -- and the cans of worms it will open up, such as continuing NOT to review the two other examples I gave above -- even been thought through before the recommendation was issued? Of course not. This type of half-baked thinking is exactly why the current NHL Hockey Ops department leaves so much to be desired. Its leader has neither insight nor foresight.
In reality, this is how the "process" operates. Controversy arises? Let's feign progress by "studying" the problem but doing nothing to cure the actual causes. Instead, let's just add some inadequately considered new procedures that are sure to contribute to all-new headaches.
I am in favor of anything that is good for the game, but I fail to see how this proposal would have a meaningful impact. Want to implement a coach's challenge? Fine. First clean up the Rule book. Then carefully consider where and when it could be beneficial, put up a real stake to discourage perfunctory challenges, and involve everyone (including on-ice officials) in the process of coming up with procedure that makes sense.
Short of that, this is all doomed to be another exercise in futility.
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Attention current and aspiring Officials who have an interest in being coached, observed, evaluated, and guided properly. I am conducting an officiating camp and tryout for ECAC Div. I and III, ISP Prep., Chowder Cups, and Rodman Arena games. We will assist you in becoming the best Official you can be, both on and off the ice, so you can make the “RIGHT CALL…!
The camp will be held on Saturday, June 20 at Rodman Arena in Walpole, MA. We will have both classroom and on-ice instruction. Beginners are welcome, too. The camp is open to ages 12 and up.
Saturday June 20, 2015 Schedule:
ï‚· Registration 2 p.m. ï‚· On Ice session 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. ï‚· Classroom session 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Equipment needed: Please bring skates, helmet, whistle, water bottle, sweat suit, and a notebook or your Officiating equipment.
Cost: $50.00
Register online at Officiating by Stewart.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the ECAC.
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.