I will be back with my prediction for round 3....and the Isles UFA report...but first we have a pressing issue.
For those who missed it...last night, in game 7 San Jose/Colorado, the Avalanche were robbed by an offside replay where a player, NOT involved in the play, had a foot on the Blue Line...the goal was at the most key moment in the game and had it counted the Avalanche would have tied it up at 2... Instead the goal was disallowed and shortly after the Sharks would take a 3-1 lead and never look back...
One thing is for certain, Sharks fans in game 7s can't be complaining these days.
The NHL needs to finally admit something to itself and its fans....
Offside is Broken.
It had a good run, and without instant replay it worked pretty darn well...Leon Stickle aside...but WITH instant replay the only way the NHL can go is making it a draconian law..By the book. And I get that, because with replay you do have. the ability to get every call right...but what exactly is "the call?"
The spirit of the offside rule is, to put into schoolyard terms, stop "cherry pickers." With refs it did this pretty well. And still does. So what are the answers? There are no shortage of opinions out there...here are a few...
This makes sense because a skate off or on the ice doesn't change where you are physically and doesn't change the fact that you AREN'T Cherry Picking....
2. The Whole Blue Line...
Since the entire Blue Line is the Zone once you enter why not make it so that if you are at least not over the blue line you are not offside?
3. Get rid of review for offside...
I would be 100% in favor of this, but I might add the only review allowed would be a review to see if a puck left the zone...Get rid of reviews off the rush...
I feel we can agree that all of these are worth exploring, but how about another thought.
Does Soccer Hold the Key?
There is probably no worse or more confusing rule in all of sports than offside in soccer. It is HORRIBLE. Ready for the actual definition of Soccer Off-side?
According to the FIFA rulebook, a player is in an offside position if:
1. He is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent. A violation will occur when he is in an offside position at the same time the ball is being passed forward to him.
A player is NOT in an offside position if:
He is in his own half of the field of play. No part of the attacking player (head, body, or feet) is closer to the opponents goal than the final defender (not including the goalkeeper) . He is receiving the ball from a throw-in.
So yeh...horrible.
I have been coaching youth soccer for years now, and while I get the rule I have also found there are other certain things certain refs consider important that changes the rule from time to time...
However there is one part of the rule that isn't stated, but is true, that is hugely important. If a player is in an offside position but doesn't affect the play directly the play is allowed to continue and there is no offside called.
So essentially to translate this into hockey... Think of a delayed offside when the offside team is racing out of the zone...if we were to put the soccer rule into place the play would be allowed to continue as long as those players didn't interfere with the play or receive the puck. They would have to establish themselves as onside before they could again touch the puck or impact the play.
Which makes sense. So a player who is a foot offside, or going to the bench, is not part of the play and DOESN'T matter.
Therefore the play should be allowed to continue. Like last night. The player in the offsides position was a non factor completely. So the play should be allowed to stand.
I know this opens up a can of worms, but shouldn't the refs be allowed to determine, at least in a replay situation, that "Goal stands, the player who was in an offside position had no impact on the play?"
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