Puck over the glass

The puck over the glass rule has its problems. It’s not as messed up as some of the others. After all, officials are actually somewhat consistent with this one. That said,  I would prefer to go back to the old way.

Part of the problems is that this has become one of those crapshoot penalties that are called more based on chance than legitimate wrongdoing. Nobody wants to shoot the puck out right now, but it happens all of the time. The rule does more to inflate power play totals than to keep people from shooting the puck over the glass. If they really wanted this change, they should have phased it in. For example, they could have created an area where people were not allowed to shoot out the puck. They also could have eased up on power plays since it is far worse when this penalty results in a two-man advantage.

Since this rule can inflate power plays and ultimately goal totals, I don’t expect the league to make any changes to this rule. I wish that they would at least ease up on it. There are far too many penalties from people who fail to maintain total control of the puck when trying to get it out of the zone.