The NHL general managers are meeting this week in Boca Raton, Florida, to discuss the state of hockey. Among the topics are the changes to increase scoring, addressing the draft lottery, and goalie equipment. One issue they are going to focus on is the coach’s challenge which was introduced this season.
In the NHL, coaches can challenge a call on the ice for a goal if they thought there was goalie interference or offsides. If the challenge was successful they keep their one timeout, but if it failed they lose their timeout. According to the Denverpost.com, there have been 1,029 games played and 216 coaches’ challenges. Of those only 55 were overturned or 25.4%. That is not a great number. It seems when a challenge is issued most often for goalie interference, the NHL refs look at a tablet to see the replay, which takes time, allowing both teams to rest for a few minutes.
The NHL is looking into making the challenge process easier for the officials. One that makes the most sense is to go to the Situation Room in Toronto. NHL.com stated the Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford said, “Maybe we go to [Situation Room] and let them do it because they have better monitors and everything like that, but they don’t have the direct feel for what just took place in the game. Just open it up for conversation. We’ll see.” This is not a bad idea. The Situation Room in Toronto would possibly have more angles to see if it was offside or goalie interference. It might help the referees on the ice and the review might not take as long. The key is to get the call right.
The NHL is debating if an unsuccessful challenge is a penalty. The NHL general managers shouldn’t agree to this. It wouldn’t be fair that a failed challenge equals a penalty and that the other team may score on the man advantage. Losing a timeout is better because teams lose their ability to take a timeout to talk strategy at the end of the game when they pull the goalie.
The NHL needs to tweak the coach’s challenge. That should be the main focus this week for the general managers. Hopefully they will decide that next season these will go to Toronto which would assist the referees to get the call right.
How should they change the coach’s challenge in the NHL?
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