NHL general managers zero in on goaltender interference and other coach's challenges

MANALAPAN, Fla. (AP) — Coaches are challenging goals one way or the other for goaltender interference at the highest rate in six seasons, playoff races across the NHL are tight and the chase for the Stanley Cup is a month away.

Because of all that, video review — and particularly coach's challenges for goalie interference — took center stage Monday to kick off the general managers' annual spring meeting.

GMs were shown roughly 70 clips of goals challenged this season for interference, offside or a missed stoppage, such as the puck hitting the protective netting, a hand pass or a high stick. The aim was to explain what the league standards are for goaltender interference and to educate all 32 organizations on how the process works.

“These aren’t black and white,” vice president of hockey operations Kris King said. “There’s a lot of judgment that goes into these. ... They’re never the same. They’re snowflakes. There’s a lot of different things that go into it.”

Through the first 1,048 games this season, coaches challenged either a goal or no-goal call for goalie interference 105 times — the most since 2019-20 when getting it wrong first became a two-minute penalty — and 60 of them were successfully overturned, which is also the highest percentage under the current system.

“Games are tough,” King said. “It’s tough to score. Guys know the importance of winning games, and they’re going to the net hard.”

All video reviews are determined by the NHL's situation room in Toronto, in consultation with on-ice officials. The decisions are made based on deliberate versus incidental contact, whether it's in or out of the crease, whether the goalie can do his job and has a chance to reset and if there was anything done by the offensive or defensive player to cause the disruption.

“It’s hard," said Bill Zito, GM of the reigning champion Florida Panthers. "You gain an appreciation for how hard and what a good job the refs do and the situation room. It’s unbelievable not only how good they are but how hard it is.”

Goaltender interference challenges have been in place since 2015-16, initially at the expense of a timeout like in the NFL, and director of officiating Stephen Walkom believes the standard has been set for what it means.

“We’re not far off," Walkom said. “Maybe originally when we started, there was some differences of opinion, but there really isn’t now.”

Senior executive VP of hockey operations Colin Campbell, who along with King and other league officials like Kay Whitmore and Rod Pasma are in charge of situation room rulings, thinks there have been some unwise challenges this season, which goes against the intent of the rule. The NHL is set for another high-scoring season, there are more close games than at any point in the history of the league and the last thing anyone wants is too many unnecessary disruptions to the flow of games.

“You’re going to have some judgment calls, and that’s the nature particularly of goaltender interference,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “When anybody says, ‘I thought I’d give it a shot,’ or ‘I think it’s 50/50,’ that’s not the standard. The standard is was it really a glaring mistake so that the judgment of the officials on the ice should be overturned.”

What happens far more often is successful challenges for offside: 69 of 77 because coaching staffs typically don't ask to review those plays unless they've seen conclusive video evidence that shows they are correct.

The schedule, which will be affected next season by the break for the 2026 Milan Olympics, is among the topics on the agenda for meetings Tuesday and Wednesday. One thing that is not a formal point of discussion is extending 3-on-3 overtime beyond 5 minutes, something that would need to be brought to the Players' Association.

But with a month left to go in the regular season before the playoffs begin and races for the final few spots expected to go down to the wire, all aspects of video review are under the microscope.

“We have to make tough rulings and we use our experience,” Campbell said. “It’s not that they’re all going to be accepted, obviously, because there’s passion behind these decisions to make these challenges. We know we run into that and just, with our experience, we hope we’re making the right call.”

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