The NHL announced on Wednesday a series of rule changes for the upcoming season. These rule changes were unanimously approved by the NHL’s board of governors, general managers and competition committee.
Four rule changes were approved for the 2024-25 season:
- A coach’s challenge will now be able to remove a penalty for a puck out of play. The challenge only applies to delay of game penalties when it’s deflected off a player, stick, glass or boards. It cannot apply in a situation in which a judgment call was made in how the puck went out of play. The NHL specified this as “batted pucks or if the puck was shot out from the defensive zone.” If a challenge fails, a two-minute minor is assessed to the challenging team in addition to the already existing penalty.
- An adjustment was made to the rule regarding line changes after the dislodging of the net. The defensive team cannot make a line change if the goalie accidentally dislodges the net. Before, the rule only applied to skaters.
- After an icing call, the offensive player will now also receive one warning for faceoff violations. It is the same as the rule for defensive players.
- Teams will now be issued one warning for players sitting on the boards; the other team will also be advised. The team that received the warning will get a bench minor penalty for future violations.
The league implied that the wording in this release is not final. They added that NHL Hockey Operations will work on the exact language for the rule book over the coming weeks.