Veteran referee breaks down the 4 NHL rule changes for 2024/25 season

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This past off-season, the NHL made four subtle rule changes to address issues of both player safety and competitive balance.

“There is nothing groundbreaking. They didn’t alter how the game is played,” ex-referee Dave Jackson told Postmedia Sports. “They are very small things. The competition committee gets together every year and says, ‘What do we need to clean up, and what wording needs to be changed or tweaked to make the game a little better.’ I love how the caretakers of the game do that every year.”

Jackson officiated 1,546 regular-season NHL games from 1990 to 2018. The Quebec resident called 83 Stanley Cup playoff games and two all-star games. He was also an on-ice official at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

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“The league does a good job of trying to improve pace of play and clean up the game, in general,” Jackson said. “In fact, the league asks the entire officiating staff every season to submit any ideas and rule changes that they may have and why they feel they should be changed. I know those submissions go right to the director of hockey operations and the competition committee.”

Jackson says the league is always looking to create additional space for creativity, to increase goal scoring, while continually making safety a priority.

“If something makes sense, the league is willing to look at it,” Jackson said. “I think commissioner Gary Bettman has done a great job of being very progressive in that category about doing what the people within the game think should be done to make the game better. He always listens to good ideas.”

Jackson currently is a rules analyst for ESPN.

Here are the four NHL rule changes for 2024/25:

Rule 38.2 (Situations Subject to Coach’s Challenge)

A coach’s challenge is permitted to take down a penalty for a puck out of play.

“I think it is good,” Jackson said. “The referees are, in my opinion, never going to default or take the easy way out and say, ‘Well, we have video,’ as they are not programmed that way. They want to get the call right on the ice every time.”

Jackson doubled down on the integrity, pride and the accuracy of the officials when it comes to video challenges.

“The calls are made by humans in real time and they are right an overwhelming number of times,” Jackson said. “Referees and linesman get the calls right, I’d say, in the high 90 percentile and the odd time they are wrong, I love the ability to get the call right through video, but it is not something the referees use as a crutch. They want to make the right call in real time on the ice.”

One caveat with this rule tweak is that video can’t be used to put a penalty on the board, only to take one off the board. As with other challenges, an additional penalty is assessed should the claim be refuted by replay.

Rule 75.3 (Unsportsmanlike Conduct – Player Sitting on Boards)

Players are no longer allowed to sit on the boards prior to a line change.

“That rule was implemented because it is a danger for players if there is a collision,” Jackson said. “It was happening a lot with players sitting on the boards and for two or three years they have been telling referees to warn the players that it looks bad and a danger.”

The ex-referee says the rule is now enforced due to an accident that occurred during a game last season.

“A linesman went down right in front of the bench and ended up cutting his wrist, cutting his hand on a skate blade because a player was just sitting, parked on the boards,” Jackson said.

The referees have plenty of discretion to call a minor, usually when the offending team disregards a warning more than once.

“It is not a penalty (the referees) are looking to call or something that is a ‘Gotcha, you are over the boards,’” Jackson said. “During play, if a linesman sees something he will say ‘Hey, guys watch your skates, keep them inside the boards.’ And if they don’t, that is when (the linesman) will go to the referee and say, ‘Hey, listen we have warned them a couple times and you need to give them an official warning.’ And once they get that official warning and if it happens again, then you will see a penalty called.”

Rule 63.8 (Line Change Following Dislodged Net)

The rule was added to address the language around the dislodging of the net in the defensive zone.

“That was pretty much just housekeeping,” Jackson said. “If the defensive team knocked the net off, obviously not intentionally because that is a penalty, but if the defensive team knocked the net off accidentally then you couldn’t make a line change (during the stoppage in play).”

The wording change now involves the goalkeeper.

“When the goalie knocked it off accidentally, they were still allowed to make a line change and now they can’t,” Jackson said.

The attacking side gets its choice on the location of the offensive zone faceoff.

“It is something that makes sense,” Jackson said. “This one is pretty cut and dried.”

Rule 76.4 (Face-Off Procedure – Centers)

Following an icing, both the offensive and defensive zone players receive one warning each for a face-off violation.

Previously, the defensive centre had the advantage because he didn’t have to worry about getting thrown out of the face-off circle. Now, it is equal across both teams.

“It was brought in to even out the competitive balance,” Jackson said. “The defensive team was getting the advantage. I think it makes sense. If one team gets a freebie, basically, then the attacking player should get a freebie, as well.”