The NHL Shootout: Restoring The Balance

Sean Kilpatrick | The Canadian Press

We’re told that for every action there’s a reaction and this was truly exemplified in a recent game between Ottawa and Carolina. In it, Carolina goaltender Pyotor Kochetkov attempted a daring (and some say “dangerous”) poke check on Ottawa Senators’ forward Brady Tkachuk during the OT shootout.

Some saw this as reckless indulgence but, for me, it was simply a situation waiting to happen. And thankfully it did. It’s been a long time coming.

For those that didn’t actually see the play, Kochetkov lunged forward during the breakaway attempt so unexpectedly that Tkachuk had no choice other than to jump over the daring goaltender to avoid being toppled like a bowling pin. The play developed so quickly that Tkachuk wasn’t able to even get a shot off. For a goalie that’s just a mission accomplished...

Of course some got the interpretation completely wrong, seeing it more as a goalie attempting a risky play, meant mostly as a pre-emptive physical provocation towards Tkachuk who is your prototypical agitator. The thinking goes that Kochetkov was just trying to run Tkachuk, while under the guise of simply trying to prevent a goal.

While Tkachuk’s edgy reputation certainly played a role to play in this, I see the act as nothing more than a goalie (finally) making a bold step towards restoring some sense of balance in the bizarre world of NHL shootouts where shooters have, for too long, had far more creative leverage than goaltenders.

In all honesty, I think (hope) this may be the start of revolution.

First off, I’m not a fan of the shootout, and yes, it’s the traditional argument of having the outcome of a (supposed) team game decided by implementing sensationalized carnival tactics left to the individual players.

Sure, I can appreciate the prospect of regular season games “needlessly” going multiple overtimes to decide outcomes but there are better “team” solutions available than this. I mean, if baseball can implement a tactic like automatically starting a runner at second base in extra innings, hockey can certainly find something better than the shootout to decide games.

That would be assuming they’d want to, of course - which they don’t. The NHL loves the shootout and it ain’t going anywhere.

This brings us to what it’s unfortunately devolved into in today’s NHL. A spectacle where the player shooting the puck has decidedly more leverage in what he can do to score a goal than what the goalie has at his disposal to stop it.

It’s painful at times to watch players skate in at an absolute snail’s pace, which may be annoying but also evidently “legal”, as long as he maintains some semblance of forward momentum.

The solution to counter this tactic is simple. Just implement a shot clock for the breakaway attempt. So, by rule, a shooter would only have a limited number of seconds to score.

Simple logic dictates that if the NHL insists on having a penalty shootouts as its tie breaking procedure then why not make the shot attempts themselves actually reflect real-life hockey conditions?

Breakaways do not, should not, and WILL not, last forever.

Of course, that’s not what they’re doing. The league is in love with the individual creativity exhibited in shootouts for, if nothing else, the viral nature of the clips. The players are enormously talented and you’ll get no argument about that here, but can we at least let’s keep it a little bit real?

Which is exactly what Pyotor Kochetkov did. The poke check has a storied history as a goalie’s somewhat secretive tactic.

The act, by its very nature, is meant to be unexpected and daring so please don't feign righteous outrage when it actually works as intended. That’s what makes the play so exciting and so successful in the first place. It's become so rarely used in today’s game that, when it’s properly utilized, it’s miscast as a dirty play (much like clean bodychecks for that matter).

Kochetkov wrongly comes off as a renegade goon when all he’s done is resurrect an underused weapon in the goaltender’s arsenal. I say, good for him and good for all goalies trying to restore some sense of balance in the lopsided spectacle we call the shootout.

As they say, two can play that game.