Scoring to go up this year?

[yukoner88]

delete:


I should research more before a I post

 

[Machinehead]

So why even write up a rule making it a penalty? Just let the players have free reign to interfere all they want. Simple fact is penalties have gone down over the past 10 years in an almost linear fashion, while at the same time goal scoring has gone down as well. In general the bulk of those penalties we not getting now are obstruction and interference. It's getting to the point teams now have no problem breaking what should be an illegal move.

As I said I have no problem letting it go if it happens in the heat of the moment and it's not really a constant thing, but it's as if teams plan games around obstructing and interfering now knowing the rule won't be called

It's not a penalty...

Rule 56 – Interference

56.1 Interference - A strict standard on acts of interference must be adhered to in all areas of the rink.

Body Position: Body position shall be determined as the player skating in front of or beside his opponent, traveling in the same direction. A player who is behind an opponent, who does not have the puck, may not use his stick, body or free hand in order to restrain his opponent, but must skate in order to gain or reestablish his proper position in order to make a check. A player is allowed the ice he is standing on (body position) and is not required to move in order to let an opponent proceed. A player may “block” the path of an opponent provided he is in front of his opponent and moving in the same direction. Moving laterally and without establishing body position, then making contact with the non-puck carrier is not permitted and will be penalized as interference. A player is always entitled to use his body position tolengthen an opponent’s path to the puck, provided his stick is not utilized (to make himself “bigger” and therefore considerably lengthening the distance his opponent must travel to get where he is going); his free hand is not used and he does not take advantage of his body position to deliver an
otherwise illegal check.

Possession of the Puck: The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession. The player deemed in possession of the puck may be checked legally, provided the check is rendered immediately following his loss of possession.

 

[TheTwelfth]

With McDavid playing, yes it certainly will

Expected this answer, saw it in first post. Was not disappointed.

 

[Penguinator]

Here's a blog from a couple of months back by a former ref.
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=68923
I would say he probably has more insight than most of us about it.

Quite an interesting read, i love insiders look, thanks.

40 penalties?

 

[boredmale]

It's not a penalty...

I see this many times happen and not get called

Moving laterally and without establishing body position, then making contact with the non-puck carrier is not permitted and will be penalized as interference.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

It's not a penalty...

What a surprise the Rangers fan thinks it isn't a penalty. Immediately doesn't mean a second after dumping the puck in. Immediately in the NHL's vernacular is like .3 or .4 seconds, not enough time to react and then decide to interfere.

They weren't being called back then either and games were ending 7-5.

That little "subtle interference" people are so riled up about was called literally one year in NHL history: 2005-06, and that whole season turned into powerplay contests. Every other year it's been textbook defense, and those 100 some-odd years have seen a huge variation in scoring. I don't know why people seem to think this play has such a huge effect.

Players adjusted as 05-06 went on and in the years that followed, the players who had to rely on interference (big, slow types) could no longer make it in the league. Watch a game from 06-10, good players actually had room because the other teams were forced to play defense on them, not grab them as they broke free fro the corners. Starting with Colin Campbell and the 2011 Bruins playoffs, interference has been gradually legalized.

 

[middletoe]

Here's a blog from a couple of months back by a former ref.
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=68923
I would say he probably has more insight than most of us about it.

He says his own philosophy on penalty calling is that games should neither be over-officiated nor under-officiated. So who decides what the perfect amount of officiating is?

If the rule book is too vague fix it. I don't think I read any positive suggestions on how to improve the officiating, just that (and this is just my interpretation of the article) that there isn't really a problem. Also that there have always been fans that complain about the officiating but don't know what they're talking about.

To me this guy is not part of the solution which makes him ...

I'll add: Just because I'm focusing on what I consider to be problems with the officiating system doesn't mean I think it's all bad. I feel there's good to it as well.

Oh, and my guess is scoring won't go up until the 2016-2017 season when 3-on-3 OT is introduced, maybe.

 

[Acallabeth]

I expect so. Teams won't be able to stop McDavid, so they will try to outscore the Oilers, exposing their D/G.

 

[MikeBabchuk]

They weren't being called back then either and games were ending 7-5.

That little "subtle interference" people are so riled up about was called literally one year in NHL history: 2005-06, and that whole season turned into powerplay contests. Every other year it's been textbook defense, and those 100 some-odd years have seen a huge variation in scoring. I don't know why people seem to think this play has such a huge effect.

We're now at a record low of powerplay opportunities per game though, an exact 180 from 2005-06.

The norm in the 80s and 90s was much higher than it is now actually (especially the 90s), with around 4.5 powerplays per team per game (over 5 a lot of years in the 90s). Even 2003-04, the pinnacle of the clutch and grab era, had 4.24 powerplays per team per game. We are now sitting at 3.06.

A return to the 80s, 90s, and 2000s norm of ~ 4.5 per game would have a major impact on scoring among top players especially.

An increase to the norm of 4.5 would result in the average team getting 118 more powerplays over the course of a season. If they score on around 20% of them, that's 24 goals. That's probably an additional 12-15 points for Crosby and Ovechkin right there.