from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

You can say goodbye to the timeout in hockey for the first 59 minutes of regulation, because what coach is going to lose the right to exercise a challenge because he called one to rest weary players following an icing?

“You’d have to have five guys out there for such an extended period of time to call one, and even then, it would be an extremely difficult call,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said Friday. “If you know that they have nothing in the tank, then you might have no other choice. … But I don’t know. … You don’t want to lose that [ability to] challenge.”

Without the option of a timeout — the league will initiate reviews in the final minute of regulation and in overtime on goal/goaltender interference calls, but not on offside plays — there will be more tired players on the ice more often following icing.

There might be a few more goals scored with tired players attempting to defend, but far more importantly, tired players are more vulnerable to injury.

If this unintended consequence of adopting the coach’s challenge comes to fruition, the NHL will have an obligation to review and adjust its policy in order to protect the safety of the athletes.

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