NHL Coaches Challenge Proves Effective

The NHL coaches challenge was one of the two big rule changes approved by the Board of Governors this past offseason. The proposal suggested that the challenge may only be used on goals scored to determine if the play was offside or whether goalie interference occurred.

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The other obvious rule change was 3-on-3 overtime, which we’ve touched on before and proved to have its own effectiveness during the preseason.

The offside part stems from a blatantly obvious missed offside that led to a goal for Matt Duchene a couple seasons back. The review of goalie interference was necessary as we’ve seen many questionable goals in recent history.

Well we only needed the first game of the season to see the NHL coaches challenge be used for the first time, and it proved effective.

At 6:35 of the 2nd period in the game between the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, Jeff Petry appeared to have scored a goal, but it was evident Jonathan Bernier was unable to make the save.

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Upon review of the play, what looked like own play interference by Matt Hunwick, was revealed as a high-stick to the neck of Bernier by Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec. Toronto used the first NHL coaches challenge in history upon looking at the play from the bench. The goal was ultimately over-turned, and the Maple Leafs kept their timeout.

Consider this yet another step in the right direction to get the call right out on the ice. Something the NHL has done better than any other major sport to date.

For any of those fans out there that were unsure of the new NHL coaches challenge, hopefully the first example of its effectiveness proves why this was a necessary rule change for the betterment of the game.

Now all we have to do is find a way to get a happy medium with scoring by increasing it just slightly. We don’t necessarily need 150-200 point individual seasons like the days of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. But we could use guys that can at least hit the 100 point mark.

So what do you think folks? Do you like the new rule changes? Or do you see a reason why either rule change could have a negative effect?

Below you can find a link to the youtube video for the negated goal:

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