NHL makes changes to rule book ahead of 2023-24 season

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Cooper Godin
September 18, 2023 (2:22 PM)

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The National Hockey League's 2023-24 season is set to get underway three weeks and on Monday, some changes to their rule book have been revealed.

According to Scouting The Refs, there have been a couple of terminology changes as well. Linesman is changed to 'Linesperson', while fouls are now known as 'infractions'.

Two rules have been updates, while two other rules have been clarified further.

Rule 9.6 - Helmets Required In Warmups.

Last season, the NHL made it a requirement that players who entered the league during or after the 2019-20 campaign have to wear a helmet during warmups and that it is now officially added to the rule book.

Rule 10.8 - Illegal Sticks.

While there's nothing really new added to the ruling, the NHL has now lumped all things to do with illegal sticks into one rule.

"An illegal stick is defined as one that, following a measurement, is deemed not conforming to league rules.

An illegal stick is also defined as one when a player has not been legally handed one by his players' bench or from a teammate.

And finally, an illegal stick is anytime a player on the ice attempts to play the game with an opponent's stick."

The National Hockey League has also clarified the following two rulings in their rule book: Rule 38.2 - Puck-in-Netting challenges and Rule 83.1 Line Changes on Delayed Offside.

For Puck-in-Netting, challenges can be initiated regardless of which team put the puck into the spectator netting.

"A play that results in a «GOAL» call on the ice where the defending team claims that the play should have been stopped by reason of any play occurring in the offensive zone that should have resulted in a play stoppage caused by the attacking team but did not. The one exception to this provision is when the puck strikes the spectator netting caused by either team and goes unnoticed by the on-ice officials"

Finally, for Line Changes on Delayed Offside, the league has decided to add an explanation for a scenario where a player goes off on a line change while in the offensive zone while on a delayed offside.

"If, during a delayed off-side, an attacking player in the attacking zone elects to proceed to his players' bench (which extends into the attacking zone) to be replaced by a teammate, he shall be considered to have cleared the zone when both skates are off the ice and the Linesperson judges him to have left the playing surface."

The updated NHL Rule Book is hot off the presses with some minor tweaks for the 2023-24 season. Here's the rundown on the changes: https://t.co/AMjxzUFmYr� Scouting The Refs (@ScoutingTheRefs) September 15, 2023

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