{coyotes} General managers move forward with 3-on-3 overtime

Tuesday 23 June 2015

{coyotes} General managers move forward with 3-on-3 overtime

LAS VEGAS -- The NHL's general managers agreed on Tuesday to push forward a recommendation to the Board of Governors for a five-minute, 3-on-3 regular-season overtime format beginning with the start of the 2015-16 regular season.

The Board of Governors is expected to vote on the recommendation in its meeting Wednesday.

The American Hockey League saw great success this season in games that ended in overtime rather than the shootout because of a 3-on-3 element. Approximately 75 percent of AHL games that went past the third period ended in overtime, an uptick from 35.3 percent in 2013-14.

The GMs originally had the idea of extending overtime to seven minutes, and making it 4-on-4 for the first three minutes before dropping to 3-on-3. The NHL Competition Committee, which met during the Stanley Cup Final, was torn on that idea, with some members in favor of going straight to 3-on-3 for five minutes. The GMs ultimately decided to go that route.

"We came out of the competition committee meeting with the players' association and we talked about both formats, and they went back to their representatives and players, and I think the consensus with them and back to us was 3-on-3 would be the right way to go," Nashville Predators GM David Poile said. "I'm excited about it. From a general managers' standpoint we're hopeful to have less shootouts. We felt almost unanimous that we would like to have more games ended in overtime versus the shootout. We got our wish. We got 3-on-3. I don't know what the statistics are going to prove out, but I know there certainly will be less shootouts. This could be very exciting. It's another tweak to the game that could be very fan friendly."

The GMs also agreed to push forward a recommendation for expanded video review to include a coach's challenge for missed offside plays that lead to goals scored.

The idea behind the coach's challenge for expanded video review is to ensure that more calls made on the ice are correct. As part of the proposal, to use a coach's challenge, the coach must still be in possession of his timeout.

"I think it's going to give us an opportunity to make better calls," Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekelainen said. "It's never going to be perfect. There's going to be judgmental decisions and calls made and we're never going to agree 100 percent on those, but it's going to give us a chance to get better calls and use the technology that's out there to help us. So I think it's a big improvement as well."