Of course, the NHL has adopted a 3 V 3 overtime system, followed by a shootout, to keep the game dynamic and flowing.

After November 2023, the NHL and Collin Campbell implemented a rule change that would change how puck possession is handled in overtime. It wouldn’t allow players who exited their own zone, to try re-entry and hold the puck in the defensive end.

This slows the game down and makes fans unhappy.

Bettman’s New Rules?

It appears that they may be reaching outside of North America to find a way to keep the flow of overtime going.

By doing so, they may be borrowing rules from the KHL/JHL in Russia, which before they arrived at this rule, other options were discussed. Some of them being a time clock that would force a team to make a play/take a shot within a certain time period, or prevent players from returning behind the blue or red line.

The KHL/JHL will be implementing these rules in Russia and the NHL can easily observe how they operate in real-time, before adopting them.

As a result, the new rules state if a player has a puck they can’t return to the blue line and must move forward to make a play. Breaking the rule will cause a face-off in the team’s territory and a 2nd infraction would be a minor penalty.