The NHL's imperfect coach's challenge system has been, and will continue to be, a hot topic in hockey circles after its first full season of implementation.
It's widely accepted that the entire process needs to be scrutinized, but there's one executive who believes there's a quick fix for the volume of challenges being issued for offside calls and instances of potential goaltender interference: Harsher consequences than a spent timeout.
Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN's Insider Trading that an unnamed executive plans to float the idea of having a two-minute delay of game penalty issued for a failed coach's challenge.
"He thinks that would cut down on the number of 50-50 calls that coaches are going for, especially in the third period. Because right now, (the) strategy is like a glorified timeout for a lot of these teams. They're saying, 'You know what, so what if we lose it, we're stopping play, we're stunting momentum, so why not just go for it?"
One would think this idea would curb the amount of challenges, but as the process itself has taught us, it's impossible to predict what will happen, and how the game will be affected, when these rules are implemented.
