Goaltender Interference Rule Change Has Been Approved

Mar 27, 2018

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The NHL’s goaltender interference rules this season have been… let’s say questionable. Coaches, general managers, and players have spoken out against a rule that seemingly changes from game to game. This all came to a head at the general managers’ meetings the other week in Florida where the goaltender interference rules were a hot topic of conversation.

The rule and how exactly to handle it were discussed. Who makes the final call? What exactly constitutes goaltender interference? Well, today, it all came to a head when the NHL made a change to the goaltender interference rule, with the effective change beginning with tomorrow’s set of NHL games. The new goaltender interference rule is as follows:

Yes, you read that right. An official will now be placed in the review room in Toronto where they will assist in making the final call on the ice. Replays from every angle will be shown and this will hopefully lead to more consistent calls. Now, this probably won’t lead to things being right 100% of the time but it will certainly help the calls moving forward.

The NHL knew they had to do something to make the rule easier to understand, easier to enforce and make it so GMs, coaches, and players knew where this stood before the end of the regular season. April 7th concludes the NHL’s regular season and thankfully the NHL got this done before the Stanley Cup playoffs. If a bad call happened in the Stanley Cup finals (HELLO 2014 KINGS and RANGERS) this could’ve been a lot worse. Let’s hope this rule change helps rather than hurts going forward.

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