{coyotes} Spin-o-rama in shootouts, hybrid icing and instigating

 

The NHL's general managers were hoping to make the spin-o-rama in shootouts illegal for this season, but there was no support at the NHLPA level.

Mike Murphy, the NHL's Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, told NHL.com that he isn't sure if the general managers will review the topic again in the near future.

"I would say it's put to bed for a few years," Murphy said.

The concern among the general managers was that the spin-o-rama in shootouts too closely toes the line between legal and illegal.

The NHL Rulebook states that for shootout and penalty-shot attempts, "the puck must be kept in motion toward the opponent's goal line." It also states that the spin-o-rama is legal because it "involves continuous motion."

"There were a lot of questions as to whether the puck was still moving forward or the player was still moving forward," Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's Senior Vice President of Player Safety and Hockey Operations, said following the Board of Governors meeting in June. "Certainly it's all about entertainment, but also it's about the integrity of the goal and over time that has become more and more in question."

The players like the spin-o-rama in shootouts because it gives them another potential way to score in an already difficult skills competition (goalies have stopped 67 percent of shootout attempts since the tiebreaker was instituted in 2005-06), and it adds an entertainment value to the shootout.

"I don't think it should be illegal," Minnesota Wild left wing Zach Parise told NHL.com over the summer. "I get where they're coming from, but it's still a difficult thing to do."

Hybrid icing will be used in the preseason and the players are expected to vote on it prior to the regular season. If they like it and the vote passes, hybrid icing will be used in the 2013-14 regular season.

The additional penalty for instigating a fight with a face shield (visor) on has been erased from the rulebook because visors now are mandatory for all players with fewer than 26 games of NHL experience. Players still will receive the two-minute minor penalty for instigating a fight, but in the past they would have received an additional two minutes for doing it while wearing a visor.

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