Rules Changes ’18

There are two blocks in the new AHL Rule Book denoting changes.

But there are a lot more than two changes. Some are minor. Some are bookkeeping. Some are interesting. Here’s what we found on a side-by-side pass, in which the annual complication was that this year’s PDF went one page at a time while last year’s served two.

Rules 33.2/35.6: In the scoring rules, clarify that a goal or penalty in the last minute of a period is timed “back” to the nearest second instead of “up” (that is, a goal with 1.2 seconds left in the period is recorded as 19:58).

37.2: Tightens up the real-time scorer rule, making that a singular job rather than requiring different people for several assorted responsibilities.

70.2: Keeps that a player who comes on legally at a stoppage and starts an altercation is subject to discipline, but it drops the parenthetical that a game misconduct is not automatic. (That’s implied in the wording of the rule.)

76.2: Corrects the Roman numerals.

78.4: Change to the scoring rule: If a defensive player shoots the puck into his own net, no assists are awarded. But if the puck is put in any other way by a defensive player, “assists may be awarded.”

78.5: Emphasis that there’s no goal when “deliberately” directing/batting/throwing a puck into the net.

79.3: Similarly, the video-review rule now separates Distinct Kicking Motion from review for directing/batting/throwing a puck in other than with a stick.

80.2: On a defensive-zone hand pass, it’s now the location of the puck that determines if it’s legal, not the players’ skates.

81.2: Removes a reference to 81.4, because…

81.4: High-sticking the puck on a power play no longer sends the draw all the way down into your own zone.

82.5: Removes a paragraph from the “no icing” section that appears to be a relic of the old touch-up days.

86.5: A shot from outside the attacking zone that goes off a post/crossbar and out of play will result in a draw at the nearest spot to where the shot came from. (There are exceptions for shots off metal that were initially offside or were directed into the crossbar with a high stick; as before, those draws come just outside the zone.)

88.1: Wording: No time out will be granted on an icing to the “defensive” team rather than the “offending” team.

While the side-by-side was still trickier on the tables that sum up different rules, a few changes stood out (some just by changes in the page numbers attached in their original rules):

Table 2 Adds use of hand on faceoff to the list of minor penalties.

Table 10: Adds fighting before or at the drop of the puck to the list of game misconducts.

Table 20, Penalties in effect prior to overtime: It looks like coincidental minors that carry over from regulation are now wiped out. That goes whether it was four-on-four at the end of regulation (they’ll start three-on-three with no time on the penalty clocks) or four-on-three (it’ll still be four-on-three, but the coincidental minors won’t be on the board, only the odd penalty).

Table 21: Fixes a four-on-four reference to three-on-three.

Michael Fornabaio