NHL ‘on the right track’ with goalie interference video reviews, GMs say

MANALAPAN, Fla. -- NHL general managers overwhelmingly are in accord with the decision-making of the League’s Situation Room on video reviews for goaltender interference.

That was among the major takeaways from the first two days of the GM meetings here Monday and Tuesday.

"They're getting most of them right," Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell told NHL.com.

On Monday, 31 of the 32 GMs were shown clips of 54 goals that were challenged for goalie interference this season (Kelly McCrimmon of the Vegas Golden Knights did not participate because of travel issues).

The managers were asked to render their own decision for each clip on if they thought it was goalie interference.

On Tuesday, the League went through the results, which showed the majority of the managers agreed with the NHL ruling on 52 of the 54 challenges -- often by lopsided votes. On the two plays for which more GMs disagreed with the Situation Room’s call, the tally was 18-13.

"We think video review and coach’s challenge is in a pretty good place, but we also realize it's an easy target when a team comes out on the wrong end of the decision and whether it's the goaltender or the coach, they come out saying, 'We just don't understand what goalie interference is,'" NHL executive vice president of hockey operations Kris King said. "Unfortunately, we hear it in the media sometimes as well. But I think the numbers prove that they do tend to understand, they do tend to think the same way."

The League wanted the GMs to go through the exercise of watching the clips and rendering their own decision as a way of checking its own work, making sure the rulings being made on the goalie interference challenges are on par with what the managers are thinking too.

"We think that our compass is straight, and we needed to do this exercise to be assured that it is," NHL senior director of officiating Stephen Walkom said. "It was reinforced in the results."

Waddell said it was "a little surprising" that the majority number was as high as 52 of 54, but he credited the benefit of following the same review process that is used in the NHL Situation Room in Toronto, including seeing the play from various camera angles with an appropriate amount of time permitted to come to a decision.

Typically, coaches have 30-45 seconds to determine if they want to challenge a goal before the ensuing face-off at center ice.

"Now we get to watch it a few times fast, watch it slow, break it down, and we're not emotionally involved in the game," Waddell said. "So, I am surprised it was that high, but overall they're getting it right."

The League plans to share these clips and reasons for the decisions with coaching staffs with a focus on getting them directly to the video coaches who are guiding the head coaches into the decision to challenge or not.

With the knowledge gained through the exercise they did here, the GMs also plan to go back to their respective teams and relay what they learned about the review process and what the League is looking for when a goal is challenged for goalie interference.

The goal will be to follow as close to the guidelines the League follows in its review process after a goalie interference challenge is initiated.

"It's very helpful when they just make sure that the barometer is correct," St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong said. "We know what they want, and they haven't wavered. It's not like we're going to go back and say what we've been doing is incorrect; it's just that they're clear, and obviously those results reinforce they're on the right track."