DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Olympic semi-final gives NHL huge warning

If there’s one thing that the Olympic semi-finals showed, it’s that the NHL must immediately change their offsides review process.

Canada scored a memorable winner against Finland in the semi-finals, but Finland challenged for offside in desperation, for a zone entry nearly a minute before Nathan MacKinnon’s strike.

The offsides review process was put into place after a linesperson missed a call by three feet on a breakaway pass. It should not be used to challenge millimetre calls for goals that were scored minutes later.

This isn’t to call out Team Finland for challenging, under the rules it was 100 per cent the correct decision and gamble, even when they got a two minute bench minor for getting the challenge wrong, with 30 seconds to go, it was a better chance to reverse that call than score with 30 seconds.

The NHL should treat this as a potential look into the future, where a Stanley Cup is decided by a ridiculous offsides review during overtime of a game seven game.

Offsides reviews, if they are to even be kept, must be only used if they directly lead to a rush chance goal, not after a period of in zone time.