from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

Through the first quarter of the season, there have been 57 challenges - nearly one every five games - and 42 of those (73 per cent) have questioned goaltender interference compared to an offside ruling.

If GMs want to take the decision away from referees, expect a fight from NHL director of officiating Stephen Walkom, who will do everything he can to keep the call in the hands of on-ice officials. Since September, referees have been pushed to “make the better call” in replays, even if it means reversing their own call. But what if the best call comes from Toronto more consistently?

There have been a lot of reasons given for why the war room should make the final call on challenges: Toronto has quicker access to replays, plus they have large monitors to view the angles, compared to a 10-inch screen in the timekeeper’s box, which is about the size of an iPad.

The hammer in the argument, though, is that the handful of league employees making the decision on goaltender interference on a nightly basis will have a lot less variance in opinion than the 35 on-ice referees. To each, goaltender interference may mean something else. And right now, the only thing more baffling in sports than what constitutes a catch in the NFL might be what actually stands for goaltender interference.

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