Fixing NHL’s Bogus Offside Coaches Challenge

Arguably one of the most controversial plays in hockey is the coaches challenge. While the goalie interference challenges have had their share of blown calls, it seems the one that boils the most blood is the offside challenge.

The offside challenge was introduced two seasons ago, and it was implemented to ensure every call would be correct. At first glance, it seemed like a good idea. After all, everybody wants the game to be one hundred per cent accurate. The fact is, the NHL was trying to eliminate human error.

Now after a decent trial run, it’s become more evident that the offside challenge is hurting the game in more ways than one.

First of all, the offside challenge eliminates goals. I bet every single hockey fan has seen a bogus call go against their team. The reasoning for frustration when “the right call” is made, is how much a toe here and there can impact the difference between a goal and a stoppage in play.  How many outcomes have been drastically changed by a play that was close enough to not be called by the human eye? If I had the time to go through every game and count, I would.

For a league that wants to increase scoring, bringing this bogus challenge to the game has done the complete opposite. It makes more sense to kibosh the entire process to produce more goals than it is to remove an inch from a goaltenders equipment.

Secondly, the offside challenge simply just slows the game down. It’s gotten to the point that a coach will challenge a call he knows he won’t win in order to slow the pace down and stop the opposing team’s momentum.

The coaches risk losing their timeout, when in fact making the challenge results in a significantly longer timeout anyway. It’s quite a flawed system.

When the NHL’s General Manager’s met in Florida for their annual meetings, not many knew what was on the agenda. It was obvious they would need to discuss the offside challenge. I was absolutely appalled that the GM’s decided not to change anything.

Really??? It is obviously flawed and the solutions didn’t take me long to think of.

Now it is my belief that an offside call should refer to the entire body being in the offensive zone before the puck. If you drag your leg, you are still onside. If your foot is in the air but still outside of the zone, you should STILL BE ONSIDE.

Let’s take a look at an offside challenge during the 2016 Eastern Conference Final. Jonathan Drouin starts the play, and by my standards stays on onside. Drouin slightly lifts his back skate possibly two inches off the ice and by NHL standards, that is offside.

I on the other hand, think that is a good goal. I believe if the NHL wants to see more scoring in their league, they need to change what an offside really is.

This topic came up when I was did my last few episodes of The Potratz Hockey Podcast, and my guest Joey Degner (@joeynotmoss) brought up a good point to crack down on challenges.

Degner thinks the NHL should implement a greater penalty to the challenging team. Right now if you challenge a call and you’re wrong, you lose your timeout, but as I previously pointed out, coaches use it just to get a longer timeout anyways.

Degner believes the challenging team should risk putting their team in the penalty box if they lose a challenge. While it seems like a steep consequence, coaches would only challenge plays they are completely sure of. This would help to increase scoring as well with power plays creating more opportunities for the players to score.

I think the NHL should also only allow the offside challenge to be called on the rush. There has been too many plays where the team gains the offensive zone and they are slightly offside on the play, but the linesman calls it onside.

The pucks goes into the corner and the team’s battle it out for 30-40 seconds before the offensive team scores. There’s no reason for that goal to be called back. The offside rush had very little to do with the actual goal.

I believe the NHL intended to crack down on blatant offsides that immediately result in goals. Remember Daniel Briere‘s momentum (and series) changing breakaway goal in the 2012 playoffs?

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So to summarize, the NHL needs to fix the offside challenge in just three simple ways;

1. Change offside requirements to ensure the players entire body (on ice or off the ice) has to cross the blueline before the puck to be considered offside.
2. Change the consequence for a failed coaches challenge to a minor penalty rather than a loss of a timeout
3. Only allow offside challenges to be issued during a rush play that results in a goal within 10 seconds off the challenged offside call.