Changes coming on NHL reviews
Amid criticism of inconsistency with goaltender interference reviews, the National Hockey League will soon have its hockey operations department in Toronto make the rulings whenever a coach challenges a goal. The aim is to have the “situation room” handling the goaltender interference reviews by the time the post-season starts.
“It will be an improvement to the extent that the managers and the coaches were looking for consistency,” commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters at the conclusion of the general manager meetings in Florida this week. “Hockey operations, we have to wear whatever decision is made anyway.”
Goaltender interference has become the NHL’s most controversial rule of late, and teams’ frustration with it seemed to reach a boiling point when Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot sounded off last month. “There’s just no consistency, and I’m (expletive) sick of it. It’s (expletive) ridiculous,” Talbot said after a review went against the Oilers.
“I don’t think anyone knows what’s goalie interference and what isn’t,” Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said earlier this month.
Unlike video reviews for offsides, which tend to be more clear-cut, goaltender interference is subjective. The current system has referees on the ice looking at iPads and reviewing a goal they had just called as good or no good in the moment. During that process, the game referees are speaking to hockey operations about the review, but the ultimate decision still rests with the on-ice officials. With the upcoming change, the referees will still be involved in the decisions, but Toronto will make the final call, perhaps making the decisions more uniform. Bettman said one of six retired referees will take a seat on a nightly basis in the situation room for goaltender interference calls.
“There’s some referees who are more established and more sure of themselves, and they won’t reverse their calls,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said.
“They almost say, ‘That’s the way I saw it, and that’s the way it is, so live with it.’ Others get swayed by what they see or maybe the crowd or another coach or how the game is going. It’s no different than a student marking their own papers. Let’s have a nonemotional person, who has no skin in the game and is not in an emotional environment, to make those calls, and I think you’ll find it’ll be more consistent. It won’t be based on emotion, and it won’t be based on confidence of a referee.”