General managers have decided against changing the NHL’s offside rule.
The NHL introduced coach’s challenges ahead of the 2015-16 season to allow coaches to ask for a review for an offside or goaltender interference call on scoring plays.
Some have argued that the sometimes lengthy reviews have broken up the pace of play, and that the league should alter the wording of its rulebook to prevent goals being taken away due to a skate being millimetres off the ice.
From Rule 83 of the NHL rulebook:
[blockquote]
Players of the attacking team must not precede the puck into the attacking zone.
The position of the player’s skates and not that of his stick shall be the determining factor in all instances in deciding an off-side. A player is off-side when both skates are completely over the leading edge of the blue line involved in the play.
A player is on-side when either of his skates are in contact with, or on his own side of the line, at the instant the puck completely crosses the leading edge of the blue line regardless of the position of his stick. However, a player actually controlling the puck who shall cross the line ahead of the puck shall not be considered “off-side,” provided he had possession and control of the puck prior to his skates crossing the blue line.
It should be noted that while the position of the player’s skates is what determines whether a player is “off-side,” nevertheless the question of an “off-side” never arises until the puck has completely crossed the leading edge of the blue line at which time the decision is to be made.
If a player legally carries or passes the puck back into his own defending zone while a player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the off-side shall be ignored and play permitted to continue.[cite]NHL rulebook[/cite][/blockquote]
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