If and when the NHL implements a coach’s challenge it will work differently than what we see in the CFL and NFL.
For one, there won’t be any flags tossed onto the ice.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, challenges will work the same way timeouts work. After contact in the crease during a goal or when a player is penalized (or not penalized) when a puck goes over the glass, the coach will call the referee over to the bench or the official will look to the bench and ask if the coach would like to use a challenge.
“You can’t have certainty on this, but the type of situation which this is intended to address is the puck goes in the net, nobody makes a call but it turns out there was contact that nobody saw,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said last week. “It would be an attempt to get the better call, but it would ultimately still be the official’s call and it would still be his judgment.”
Adding a coach’s challenge was one thing NHL general managers recommended at the recent GM meetings in Florida. The NHLPA and board of governors would have to approve the change. Any disputable goals during overtime would be automatically reviewed.
