NHL players and coaches have been vocal in their criticism of goaltender interference calls and non-calls this season and the league wants it to stop.
The topic will be addressed at the upcoming general managers meetings later this month, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.
“We’ve been talking for a while about how this issue will be discussed but I think there’s going to be another pushback and that comes from Colin Campbell, who runs the NHL’s hockey operations department, who’s going to give the message across that it’s not OK to have the type of criticism we saw from [Toronto Maple Leafs coach] Mike Babcock [earlier this week],” Johnston said Saturday during the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada.
There have been too many controversial goalie interference reviews this season to list them all here, but we saw yet another glaring example in the Maple Leafs’ 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday. This time, Babcock’s team was the beneficiary of a controversial call.
Pens bench boss Mike Sullivan was left baffled after Brian Dumoulin not only had a goal called back but was then assessed a two-minute penalty, which the Leafs turned into a power-play goal.
Johnston added: “There’s a feeling at the league office that this is not something that’s productive to the process whatsoever, the amount of complaining that’s gone on about it. … So there will be a continued discussion about where this is going, what’s happening, and the league has tried to be as transparent as it can with these rulings but certainly the message will be, ‘Don’t air your public laundry here to the press.’”
The GM meetings take place March 19-21 in Boca Raton, Fla.
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