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UPDATE: NHL has approved three-on-three overtime

MiHockey Staff

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UPDATED (June 24, 2015): TSN’s Bob McKenzie is reporting that the league’s board of governors have approved the rule changes for three-on-three overtime, and that they have also approved a coach’s challenge for goals involving questionable offsides or goalie interference.

By @MichaelCaples –

It is appearing likely that the National Hockey League will adopt a three-on-three overtime session for the upcoming season.

The league’s general managers agreed on having a three-on-three overtime period for five minutes if a regular-season contest ends in a tie after 60 minutes.

The only possible roadblock in the change is the board of governors’ voting on the issue, which will take place tomorrow.

“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 via NHL.com. “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.”

From the NHL article:

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.