The NHL switched to a hybrid icing rule prior to the 2013-14 season, but Don Cherry still isn’t satisfied with how the rule is enforced.
Cherry feels linesmen should wave off more icing calls than they currently do and let his feelings be known Saturday on Coach’s Corner.
“I have been going nuts,” Cherry said on Hockey Night in Canada. “Linesmen drive me crazy throwing guys out [of the faceoff circle] and I have been saying they love to call icings. They want to get [involved] in the game.”
Cherry pointed to a specific play from Friday’s game between the Red Wings and Oilers where he felt an icing should have been waved off.
“In Europe, if you’re near [the puck], they don’t call it and that’s what we’ve got to do [in the NHL]. Gary, get these linemen straightened out,” Cherry pleaded to the NHL commissioner. “They’re out of control.”
Never shy to share his opinion, Cherry also feels NHLers should revert to wearing bigger gloves so as to avoid injuries like the one that will keep Brendan Gallagher out for at least the next six weeks.
