Bettman accepts challenge gladly
Coaches’ calls for review will endure
The 2-year-old rule allowing NHL coaches to challenge a goal and seek a video review, claiming the scoring play began with an offside entry into the attacking zone or that there was goaltender interference, has been no friend to the Bruins.
Only one NHL team had more of its goals challenged during the 2016-17 regular season than the B’s. And of the 16 times that happened to them, six goals were taken off the board — tied for the most in the league. And, of course, the B’s saw it happen twice more during their razor-thin playoff loss to Ottawa.
In Game 4, a Noel Acciari goal was wiped off the board after a coach’s challenge showed an offside some 20 seconds earlier. The B’s lost, 1-0.
And in overtime of Game 5, Acciari’s apparent gamewinning goal was taken down because goaltender interference was ruled against Sean Kuraly.
As with the shootouts that decide deadlocked regular-season games, the coach’s challenge is a controversial, love/hate area of the rulebook: Teams love the rules when they work in their favor — and hate them when they’re on the wrong aside of the decision.
Particularly loathsome are the goals disallowed long after a player was, maybe, a tenth of an inch offside — and wasn’t even a factor in the scoring play that occurred 20, 30 seconds later. Also highly annoying is that fact that the video reviews sometimes take several minutes, and even then, it too frequently seems, the ruling is inaccurate.
These plays were certainly a source of great consternation throughout this season for the Bruins, who often seemed to be battling two opponents: The other team, and the guys in the NHL situation room in Toronto making the rulings on challenged plays.
But NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, speaking at a press conference early last week before the start of the Stanley Cup final, expressed delight in the coach’s challenge system and said it will remain part of the game.
“While there’s lots of dialogue generated by the coach’s challenge, as well as video reviews for goalie interference and offside,” Bettman said, “they are working exactly as they were intended to: That is to provide officials with an opportunity to get a better look at plays.
“We hear the commentary, ‘Well, it was just offside by a little bit. His skate was in the air.’ The fact of the matter is, it’s our job to make sure the rules are complied with, and the video replay through the coach’s challenge on offside has worked exactly as we hoped it would. The rule is the rule. We enforce it.
“Most interesting, I know people lose sight of this when they think about the delay that’s sometimes caused by a review — generally that’s because it’s a tough call — (but) there are 13 percent fewer offside calls this past season than there were the last season before we had the coach’s challenge.
“(That) tells you two things: One, the players are responding to the fact that they know it’s going to get close scrutiny, and, two, my guess is on close calls officials are a little more comfortable letting — when they’re not sure — an offside go, knowing that it gets be corrected.
“With respect to goaltender interference, let’s start with the fact that that is a judgment call. Everybody knows it’s a judgment call. If you’re on the wrong side of the outcome, you hate the rule — you don’t understand exactly what the standard is . . . all of those complaints.
“What was intended with the coach’s challenge was to address the glaring instance where an official didn’t see something that took place. We are extremely comfortable with the fact that the officials in a coach’s challenge now have an opportunity to take a second look and see if they’re comfortable with their call. That’s what the coach’s challenge was intended to do.”
Bettman said the challenge mechanism has reduced the instances of goalie interference calls.
“Interestingly enough, I think the players are reacting to that, as well,” the commissioner said. “Because the number of goaltender interference penalties is actually down 22 percent this year compared to what it was the last (season) before the coach’s challenge. So in that regard, we think both are working well.
“Having said that, we’re constantly looking at what we can do to speed it up and improve it and make sure it’s working well. Officials are a little more comfortable letting — when they’re not sure — an offside go, knowing that it get be corrected.”
Bettman was asked if the league is contemplating opening up the coach’s challenge to plays other than offside or goalie interference. What if, for example, a tripping minor was called but a coach felt there was no trip and it was a pure dive, and wanted a video review?
“I don’t think we want to be reviewing anything more by video,” Bettman said with a facetious tone, “since it’s so well-received when we do it.
“But the fact is, one of the things we’re going to look at is exactly how much time a coach is going to get to challenge. Sometimes the officials take a little too long to go to the bench. The coaches do a variety of things to take more time to look at the video. We’re going to contemplate the possibility — we have to work this out — of putting a clock on how much time there is once a goal is scored. But beyond that, we think it’s working the way it was intended to.”