Report: NHL tells officials to dial back slashing, faceoff crackdowns

That didn't take long.

The NHL sent a note to its officials Friday instructing them to ease up a bit in their crackdown on slashing and faceoff infractions, Sportsnet's John Shannon reports.

TVA's Renaud Lavoie later added some further detail.

There has been a significant increase in the number of penalties called for both slashing and faceoff violations in the preseason, and it has brought about criticism from players, as well as concern from fans and the media.

Earlier this week, Boston Bruins forward Brad Machand called the increased enforcement of existing faceoff violation rules "an absolute joke."