GMs look for some crease lightening

Goalie interference expected to be focus of meetings this week

When the NHL’s general managers meet this week in Boca Raton, Fla., one question could well dominate their three-day agenda: What is goaltender interference?

Unfortunately, it’s a question that doesn’t have much of an answer. To some, like art, they simply know it when they see it.

That’s not exactly the standard coaches and are looking for.

“Right now, it is confusing,” Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. “You’re seeing something and it seems the same. The next time around it’s a different answer.

“At the end of the day, it’s probably about making sure we all understand what the criteria is — referees, coaches, and general managers. If we can get on the same page, it will make a difference. Right now, I don’t think we’re all clear or on the same page. They have an opportunity at the GMs meeting to rectify that.”

There will be a lot on the general managers’ plates this week, including:

A review of the offside rules, with a potential change where a skate over the plane of the blue line would count as onside;

An update on possible expansion to Seattle;

And a review of how teams use longterm injured relief, according to a Hockey Night in Canadareport. That could be an issue for the Maple Leafs, who have parked Joffrey Lupul there for two seasons.

The general managers may also voice their opinion to change the playoff format, but that would be a matter commissioner Gary Bettman would have to run by the owners and get approval from the players via the collective bargaining agreement.

The league can’t change any rules mid-season following this meeting, but it can change how rules are interpreted. And with the playoffs less than a month away, a simple standard on goalie interference is what everyone is looking for.

The answer has proved elusive so far. And the introduction of a coach’s challenge for goaltender interference via video review may well have created more problems than it solved.

“We told them at the beginning it was going to be difficult to ascertain,” said Colin Campbell, the NHL’s executive vicepresident and director of hockey operations. “We did exercises with GMs in meetings: What do you think of this call, and this call? They never agree. We still do exercises now. We had staff do it. And the staff was split.”

One issue is that replays are available in slow motion, and Campbell acknowledged officials were “too sensitive” to what they saw while reviewing the calls in the first half of the season. League commissioner Gary Bettman got involved at the all-star break. “Take a quick look, but don’t search it to death,” Bettman said in a memo to officials. “The presumption should be the call on the ice was good unless you have a good reason to overturn it. And you shouldn’t have to search for a good reason.”

Another issue has been goaltenders embellishing the interference.

“Goalies aren’t dumb,” Campbell said. “The puck would go in the net, and they’d make the case they couldn’t make the save. We didn’t know if he got jolted or not. I wouldn’t doubt the goalie coaches are probably coaching embellishment.”

The league went through similar issues with goals that go in off skates, and goals that go in off high sticks. The debate over kicked goals ended when the league came up with the standard of a “distinct” kicking motion. The issue with high sticks improved when the league set the crossbar as the standard.

There is a movement to take the review away from the official who made the call and into Campbell’s war room in Toronto, creating a level of consistency with the calls. But that’s a hot potato nobody wants.

“If we got it and made a decision in a tight game,” Campbell said, “do you think they’re going to say, ‘Oh, that’s Toronto, we trust them.’ ”