NHL Makes Big Rules Changes

The NHL’s Board of Governors voted Monday to eliminate video judges’ review of goals when a player may have been in the crease and gave referees discretion to determine whether an attacking player interferes with the goalie when a goal is scored.

Commissioner Gary Bettman said Brett Hull’s controversial goal that won the Stanley Cup for Dallas was not the motivation for the change. “It was a non-issue,” he said. “Everybody understands that it was the right call. The fact that the rule engendered so much confusion, if anything, helped motivate the governors to focus on it.”

The video judge will still be empowered to review plays in which there’s doubt whether the puck entirely crossed the goal line, whether it was kicked in or if it was directed in with a high stick.

The Governors surprisingly voted to change the format for regular-season overtime games to four skaters a side, copying an experiment that resolved 61% of American Hockey League games that were tied after 60 minutes. Each team will earn a point if a game is even at the end of regulation time, and the team that scores during five minutes of sudden-death play will get an additional point. With more open ice, coaches presumably will send out their best players instead of playing cautiously for a tie.