NHL GMs happy with changes as scoring goes up and coaches’ challenges go down

Scoring is up. Comeback wins are up. Overtime is up. The average length of a game is down. And the number of coaches’ challenges are down.

The NHL’s general managers patted themselves on the back Tuesday for rule changes implemented that they believe are making for a quicker, more exciting fan experience.

“The feedback from the GMs has been excellent,” said Stephen Walkom, the NHL’s vice president in charge of officiating. “They like where it’s going.”

The GMs were given a review of how the changes have gone, like a two-minute delay of game penalty for a coach’s challenge that fails to overturn a call, or a minor for a goalie stopping the play for a shot that crossed the centre line.

“The challenges have dropped significantly,” Walkom said. “We think that’s a that’s a great thing for the game. We found that we’ve had fewer faceoffs in the first quarter of the year, down about three faceoffs a game. The game time in our league is down, which is a little different than other leagues, which is good for the fans, good for the players.”

The league said the total number of challenges are down 32 per cent from the same point last season, 44 per cent from 2017-18, and 47 per cent from 2016-17. At the same time, 58 per cent of challenges have resulted in calls being overturned, up from 32 per cent last season, 38 per cent in 2017-2018, and 25 per cent in 2016-17.

So coaches are using the challenges less often but are more likely to be right when they do.

“We’re trying to make it fan friendly, player friendly, reduce as many bogus challenges as possible,” said Colin Campbell, senior executive vice-president of hockey operations for the NHL. “We’ve done that this year.”

The league knows it still has work to do, and will investigate changes or modifications of interpretation to the offside rule while also wrestling with how to deal with letting the play carry on while a player lays injured on the ice.

The Bruins had a goal called back recently when it was determined that Charlie Coyle had the puck between but slightly behind his skates as he crossed the blue line. The letter of the rule was upheld, but there was a grey area that could have allowed the goal to stand if the officials had determined Coyle was in control of the puck even though it wasn’t touching his stick or skate blade.

“We had a lot of conversation about that, and about possession and control, and it was a difficult one,” Campbell said. “Players are very talented now … you almost have to consider what they can do in possession and control. And we’re always trying to reward offence.”

The managers will have another look at offside. Three of them want the league to look again at whether the skate merely needs to be over the blue line and not actually on the ice to be considered onside.

“There was a lot of talk about offside and a lot of great points of view from people who have been in the game for a long time or who have really great ways of looking at the way offside is called,” Leafs GM Kyle Dubas told the Star in an email. “As we discussed it, it was clear that it is a matter that is likely more complex and needs more time to be thought out and discussed.”

The league discussed how officials react to a player injured on the ice. It took 14 seconds from the time Colorado’s Matt Calvert was hit in the head by a puck in an Avalanche-Canucks game to when the play was called dead. Calvert looked to be in serious distress, but the play was only called dead because Vancouver scored.

“We don’t want players that are seriously injured on the ice, we want to kill the play as soon as possible,” Walkom said. “That was just an unfortunate situation.”

The league is worried about players embellishing injuries if they know they can get a whistle while their team is under siege in the defensive zone. “We’re covered under the rule. It’s just that sometimes it seems like it’s a lot longer on TV than it really was on the ice,” Walkom said.

The GMs will meet again in March.

There are other reasons for the league to be happy with its on-ice product:

The league also renamed its general manager of the year award in honour of Jim Gregory, the former Maple Leafs GM and long-time league executive who died Oct. 30 at age 83. The award was first introduced in 2010.