Coaches' Challenges in 2022-23 NHL Season
Aug. 15, 2023
In this article, we want to review all the video challenges that were made during the regular season and playoffs in 2022-23 NHL season, and find out about some statistics regarding them. We want to answer the following questions:
and some other fun facts of the past season video challenges.
First, let's review what the NHL rulebook says regarding these challenges, and when teams can challenge a goal.
Based on NHL rulebook version 2022-23:
A team may only request a Coach’s Challenge to review the following scenarios:
- “Off-Side” Play Leading to a Goal
- Missed Game Stoppage Event in the Offensive Zone Leading to a Goal
- Scoring Plays Involving Potential “Interference on the Goalkeeper”; that can both be a Goal or a non-Goal call
Apart from teams, in the final minute of play in the 3rd Period and at any point in Overtime (Regular Season and Playoffs) the league also initiates a review in the above cases.
Therefore, the video analyst has to pay attention to the following fouls:
- Goalie interference
- Offside
- Hand Pass
- Kicking the puck
- High Stick
- Goal cage displaced
- Puck Out of Bounds
Break down of challenges in the past season
Based on NHL public APIs, we have collected the data for all GOAL and NON-GOAL challenges that were made in all games in the past season, and we have added them to the game summaries after game.
There were total of 224 challenges during the regular season and post-season games that can be broke down to the following categories:
| Counts | Regular Season | Post-season |
|---|---|---|
| All | 208 | 16 |
| Leauge Initiated | 16 | 2 |
| Teams initiated | 192 | 14 |
| Delaying Challenges | 56 | 5 |
Which team had the most challenges during the 2022-23 NHL regular season?
In addition, here is the break down of the challenges that were made by each team:
| Team | Number of Challenges | Successful | Delayed Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panthers | 14 | 10 | 4 |
| Oilers | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Senators | 9 | 5 | 4 |
| Canadiens | 9 | 4 | 5 |
| Sharks | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| Maple Leafs | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Lightning | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| Devils | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| Bruins | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| Avalanche | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Sabres | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Penguins | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Kraken | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Jets | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Flames | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Ducks | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Canucks | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Blue Jackets | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Rangers | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Predators | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Kings | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Flyers | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Coyotes | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Blackhawks | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Wild | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Hurricanes | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Golden Knights | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Blues | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Stars | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Red Wings | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Capitals | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Islanders | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Based on this table, during the 2022-23 NHL season, the Florida Panthers had the most successful challenges during the season and had 10 overturn goals. After them, the Edmonton Oilers had 9 successful challenges and are second in the table in that sense.
Fun facts about the video challenges in the past season
Here are a few fun facts that were observed in the past season:
- The most delaying team of NHL in 2022-2023 were Montreal Canadiens with 5 delaying challenges.
- The most challenging team of NHL in 2022-2023, Bruins can confirm, were Florida Panthers, the Eastern Conference Champions, with 14 coach challenges.
- The least challenging team of NHL (for referees only of course), were New York Islanders with only 2 challenges during the 82 games that they played.
- The team that couldn't be any more wrong in challenging referees were Detroit Red Wings that none of their challenges were successful.
- There were 8 teams that were super nice and that didn't challenge referees for delaying games including Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames, the Canadian teams of course.
- The literally most challenging game for referees were one with 4 overturn goals! between Oilers and Sharks that you can watch again here:
If you liked the facts, share it someone that might like this (or probably gets mad.)