MANALAPAN, Fla. -- The NHL used the first day of its annual meetings with general managers Monday to check its own work with the GMs specific to video review initiated by the coach's challenge and to continue to educate them on the decision-making process.
"This was educational and checking our compass on video review and all aspects of it," said NHL executive vice president of hockey operations Kris King. "These guys understand these are hard and they understand that they're not all the same. They have differences of opinions on the ones that affect them called in their games, but the education part of this was important. This was a gauge to where we're at, knowing we've got some big games coming."
The NHL first implemented the coach's challenge during the 2015-16 season, specific to challenging goals that were scored off potential offside and goalie interference infractions. The League has since added the ability to challenge goals scored off a missed stoppage in play and to take down a delay of game penalty for a puck being shot out of play.
In 2019-20, the League added a minor penalty for a failed coach's challenge, which has resulted in a steep decline in the number of challenges and overturned goals.
On Monday, the NHL wanted to get a gauge from the GMs on how they think the process works and if they disagree with anything or want to see some tweaks or significant changes.
So the GMs all saw the same videos during their breakout sessions and were asked should this be a goal or no goal based on the specific coach's challenge. Their findings will be brought to the big group meeting Tuesday.
"We gave them all these videos and asked them what they thought and if there is something we can look at we will, but I know we're in a real good spot with this," King said.
Not surprisingly, video review for goals scored off potential goalie interference likely will receive the most discussion in the meeting Tuesday. Those are the most subjective calls.
To provide clarity, the League, in a presentation to the media that was similar to the presentation it gave the GMs, provided guidelines on the process it goes through in the NHL Situation Room to determine goal or no goal on goalie interference reviews.
If there is contact with the goalie, was it deliberate or incidental?
Was the player making contact with the goalie in the blue paint or the white paint when it happened? A player is allowed to go into the crease as long as he allows the goalie to play his position.
Did the skater initiate the contact or was it the goalie? Was there action from a defensive player or offensive player that led to the contact? Does the goalie have a chance to reset to make the save?
"We constantly use this meeting to educate our managers, ask them questions," NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell said. "They're a good group of hockey people coming from different backgrounds and we get a good feeling about how they feel about this aspect of the game.
“So we ask the question, are we too careful on protecting goaltenders? Should there be more contact in the crease? We take it all in, listen to them and do the right thing for the game."
For consistency purposes, every video review process and decision is led by some or all of Campbell, King, and group vice presidents Rod Pasma and Kay Whitmore.
"It's a very complicated rule and when you take the time to go through what separates one play from another, it is astonishingly consistent," Carolina Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky said. "I know that can be hard to see from your couch at home when you haven't spent time going through all the different plays and all the different nuances that separate one play from another, but for the job they do in the amount of time they have to make a decision, I think it's extraordinary the degree of consistency they have right now."
The number of challenges for goalie interference is up this season compared to the previous three. Entering Monday, there were 108 reviews for goalie interference, with 62 resulting in overturned goals; last season there were 88 reviews and 48 overturned goals. In 2022-23, it was 85 reviews with 42 overturned, and 82 reviews with 35 overturned in 2021-22.
The NHL believes the rise in goalie interference reviews is a result of the parity in the League and how close games are being played, with 75 percent being decided by one goal or two with an empty-net goal, up from a five-season average of 70 percent from 2019-24.
"Right now, guys are going to the net as hard as ever," Whitmore said. "I think they're getting in there and they're not worried about it because they're just trying to score and trying to win. They're not trying to interfere with the goalie, but sometimes you lose where you are on the ice. That could be one more reason why there's more challenges -- because there's just more goalie interference."
