Rules Changes ’15

Better late than never, the annual run-through of changes noticed in a comparison of last year’s rule book to this year’s. It’s complicated by one massive, dramatic, mind-blowing change: The text is justified instead of left-aligned. Argh.

Survived, though, so here’s what we’ve got:

DIAGRAM/1.8: The top of the trapezoid is now 22 feet wide along the goal line: eight feet from each post. The bottom (along the boards) remains 28 feet long.

1.9: The hash marks at the faceoff circles inside the zone are now 5 feet, 7 inches apart instead of 3 feet.

1.10 (ii): Adds the dry scrape before overtime. The old (iii), about the dry scrape before the shootout, is gone.

8.1: “When a player is injured so that he cannot continue play or go to his bench, the play shall not be stopped until the injured player’s team has secured control” — no longer “possession” — “of the puck.” Similar change if the player’s team already has control. (There are other similar wording changes of “possession” to “control” in 9.6, 15.1, 70.4 and 76.2.)

8.2: If a team substitutes for an injured goalie, the goalie who was replaced can’t go back in the game before the next stoppage. That was the case, but there’s a new provision for a delay-of-game minor if it happens. (Don’t think I’ve ever seen that.)

9.5: Pants are to be “worn in a uniform fashion by all players” — no cuts, rips or tears in the legs, and one consistent color through the legs.

9.6: A player who loses his helmet has to put it back on immediately (chin strap included) without rejoining the play or go straight to the bench. Minor penalty for violation.

20.4: Automatic game misconduct for a player who amasses three majors, or two fighting majors, in one game. As before, the referee doesn’t have to give the game misconduct if the third major/second fight comes as the result of an altercation where the opposing player is a clear instigator.

23.3: Clarifies that game misconducts in the general category accumulated during the regular season will be wiped out, for suspension purposes, for the playoffs. Also says that if a player is suspended because of a general-category game misconduct, it won’t be counted toward the three that will get him suspended. (These provisions had been specifically laid out in other categories.)

23.4: The old rule said that a player who accumulated two game misconducts for abuse of officials would be suspended for the next “League or Playoff game.” But now, like the previous rule, a player’s ledger is wiped clean before the playoffs, so the regular season and playoff rules are split, and evidently a late-regular-season violation won’t get you suspended for a playoff game. Also similar to the previous rule, penalties for which a player has already been suspended won’t count toward the accumulation.

23.5: Stick infractions are now accounted for separately from boarding and checking from behind.

23.6: The new “Physical Fouls category.” Two of them are worth a game’s suspension; each additional is worth an additional game.

So the old 23.6 (which just refers back to 20.4) and 23.7 move up to 23.7 and 23.8.

24.2: No more spin-o-rama on penalty shots.

25.1: Fixes a typo (or remnant of a number change? one or the other) in the rule number.

27.8: Though it doesn’t have the corrected dimensions for the top of the trapezoid (see 1.8), it does add that the delay-of-game minor will not be assessed if the goalie plays the puck outside the trapezoid below the goal line “while maintaining skate contact with his goal crease.”

34.3: The new seven-minute overtime isn’t updated in the Game Timekeeper section.

46.9: Changes rule reference from 46.20 to 46.19…. though it looks as if 46.20 is the relevant section.

49.2: Adds “with his skate/foot” to the part that says a goal can’t be scored with a distinct kicking motion. To the criteria for a good or bad goal, adds (iv) that a goal is good if it deflects off an attacking skater’s skate, including when he’s in the process of stopping.

57.1: Removes the criteria that the referee doesn’t have to call tripping if he feels the defending player makes contact with the puck and then trips his opponent. In situations where that would result in a penalty shot, it should simply be a minor instead of a penalty shot.

76.4: If a team that just iced the puck commits a faceoff violation, the man in the circle won’t be removed, but a second violation will still be a minor penalty. (This prevents the stall tactic of putting a winger into the circle just to get himself tossed.) At the very end of the section, the rule number is now bolded. #consistency

78.3: Rewrites the rule crediting assists, from the one or two players “taking part in the play immediately preceding the goal” to “the player or players (maximum two) who touch the puck prior to the goal scorer provided no defender plays or has possession of the puck subsequently.”

79.3 (iv): Removes the “pendulum motion” line from “distinct kicking motion” in the video review section. Also adds the same language as in 49.2 (iv) about pucks deflecting off attacking players skates.

81.2: Fixes a reference to an old rule number.

82.1: Changes to the “hybrid” icing language from the old touch-up rules, which had been put back in the book last year until the NHL decided whether or not to use the hybrid rule.

82.4: Bolded rule number. #consistency.

85.1: The new regular-season overtime rules: Seven minutes on the clock to start, beginning four-on-four. At the first whistle after three elapsed minutes (4:00 on the clock), they go three-on-three. There’ll be a dry scrape of the whole surface before OT, and the teams will change ends.

85.3: Wording changed to provide for three-on-three, including the procedure for adding skaters in the event of power plays and then going back to the appropriate manpower after a whistle.

85.4: Teams will change ends again for the shootout, defending the goal closest to their benches. It’s now a three-man shootout instead of a five-man.

86.1: Changes in the rules about faceoff location, keeping the draw in the offensive zone for a wider array of shot attempts, including shots that go off any part of the net or goalframe and out of play, shots off the boards that go out, shots that are tipped even by a teammate out of play, and shots wedged into the goal net. (86.5 clarifies wording along these lines, that stoppages caused by the attacking team should put the draw outside “unless otherwise covered in these rules.”)

The tables in the back of summaries of penalties now include a Table 12 for the Physical Fouls Category of 23.6. Other tables follow, one number higher than they used to be, so those numbers have also changed in the text along with page numbers.

Michael Fornabaio