Interference issue needs more clarity

tion Committee will push forward this new change in time for the playoffs. “We’re really using it to correct a glaring error — not an argument over whether it could have been or might not have been. The answer should be if it’s a completely blown call, that’s when it should be used. And if you’re issuing the challenge in circumstances where it isn’t clearcut, you should expect you’re probably not going to get the determination that you want.”

Having the Situation Room in Toronto make the final call is the first step toward that. You’re never going to get everyone to agree on what is and what isn’t goalie interference, but if the NHL can show that it is consistently following a standard, then it becomes easier to gain the public’s trust.

Right now, the feeling out there is that no one knows what goalie interference is. The league said of the 170 challenges, there only half a erally on the line — if no one believes that the process is working correctly.

“Frustrating isn’t the right word,” said Bettman. “Yes, it’s only been a handful of calls. But I guess if I’m a coach and I issue a challenge and I’m wrong, I’m going to be unhappy about that even if the challenge shouldn’t have been made in the first instance. So I get it, but some of the attention it got was way in disproportion to how this is working.”

Will this bring the league closer to that eventual goal? We’ ll see.

“If you have a smaller group of people making the decision, you should get more consistency out of it,” said Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman. “It will become clearer over time whether we like the calls or not. That goes for people in the league, media, fans. Because it’s the same guys over and over and over making the decisions, I would expect you’ll get more consistency to instead of two calls that are very, very similar resulting in opposite calls.”

“They’re important calls,” said Los Angeles Kings GM Rob Blake. “We’re not all going to agree on these calls, but at least we’ll probably be a little more consistent in how the calls are made.”

Maybe that’s true. Or maybe all this does is give the coaches a centralized place to point their collective fingers when a call doesn’t go their way. Either way, the league has no stomach for rewriting the rule book in an attempt to make goalie interference calls more black and white.

“We had that with the foot in the crease rule,” said Bettman. “That doesn’t work. There are certain calls in the game — every call, really — that are judgment calls. Tripping is a judgment call. Whether or not there’s been interference can be a judgment call. If you’re looking for absolutes, you’re not following how the game has been officiated and how the game is played.”