Columbus Blue Jackets Manipulate Rule That Needs Changed
In Sunday’s win over the New Jersey Devils, the Columbus Blue Jackets took advantage of a rule to score a goal to extend their lead to 3-1. Columbus would go on to win their fourth straight by a score of 4-1.
Six minutes and twenty-eight seconds into the second period, former Columbus Blue Jackets and current New Jersey Devils defenseman Dalton Prout tripped Josh Anderson as Anderson started breaking away toward the New Jersey goal. This prompted the second penalty shot opportunity of the game for the Jackets, with Lukas Sedlak successfully converting the first.
In this situation, however, Anderson was slow to skate to the bench after crashing into the goal post. The Blue Jackets convinced the officials that Anderson was too injured to take the shot. This brought in Rule 24.3 of the NHL Rulebook, stating:
"If by reason of injury, the player designated by the Referee to take the penalty shot is unable to do so within a reasonable time, the shot may be taken by a player selected by the Captain of the non-offending team from the players on the ice when the foul was committed. Such selection shall be reported to the Referee and cannot be changed."
The Blue Jackets originally picked forward Sam Gagner to take the shot. After a review, however, the referees realized that Gagner was not on the ice when the penalty occurred. Alternate captain Brandon Dubinsky was then chosen as a replacement. Dubinsky fired the puck in the top left corner to score the goal.
Problems with Rule 24.3
As you can see by the video above that chronicles the whole situation, Josh Anderson immediately returned to the bench following Dubinsky’s goal. The commentators even mention before the shot that Anderson was just waiting for the shot in the tunnel so he could come back to the bench.
This is obviously a problem. As much as I love the Columbus Blue Jackets, it’s a ridiculous rule that needs to be altered to deter any future teams from manipulating it.
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Per the rule, there is no definition of an injury except the player or coach saying that he’s too hurt to take the shot. This opens up situations like Anderson’s where the player can exaggerate or even feign injury in order to have a different (and probably better) player take the shot.
Kind of unrelated to what I’m focusing on, but the captain chooses the players? Yeah right! I don’t care what anyone says, Nick Foligno was not making this decision by himself.
Proposed Change to Rule 24.3
To deter players from faking or milking injuries, the rule needs to add that the injured player must not return to the bench area or ice for 10 minutes. This makes players and coaches think about whether they want to go without the player for half a period. If they’re alright with that, he will basically be ejected from the game until the 10 minutes is up. That extended time will also give the injured player ample time to get medical attention if needed.
Head coaches should be the one officially making the decisions on who will take the shot, not the captain. This rule was probably relevant decades ago, but not now. The captain is not the one truly making these decisions; the coach is. This rule (among others) need to be updated. The NHL has changed and rules need to reflect that.
If this sort of thing were to happen to the Jackets (especially in the playoffs), we have to be realistic in that we would be absolutely livid. There’s no way to even comprehend the salt that we would have if the Pittsburgh Penguins did this to us in the playoffs.
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