It’s a tale as old as time: man scores a goal off the rush and then the rival coach challenges the play for off-side. The goal gets called back because someones skate was millimetres off the ice and the game was stopped for five minutes to see that. Is it really necessary anymore?
Offsides to the extent that they truly does not affect the actual scoring of goals except in extreme circumstances. However, offsides often end a game that has good flow going and slows the game off for minuscule reasons. Are off-sides really worth the hassle the cause?
Without off-sides it would be easier for the game to go faster and because a lot of off-sides are for centimetres at most, not really impact the game beyond making it more fun. Has anyone ever said “thank god for off-sides, this game was too much fun and that whistle made it better.”
Beyond how ending off-side would make the game more exciting and fun, it would allow the NHL to expand video review in other areas and make it more consistent when it comes to goalie interference. The NHL does have other plays that might benefit from video review, but they have one that takes up so much time that adding more parts of the game for review would slow it down even more.
Off-side calls rarely actually impact the end result of a goal as they either happen so far before the goal is scored, it clearly has no impact or it was based on millimetres and takes ten minutes to decide if the player’s skate blade was off the ice. So end off-sides in 2019 and make the game easier to watch.
