How World Cup of Hockey handles suspensions, coach’s challenges

The World Cup of Hockey is an NHL and NHLPA joint, for the most part.

The International Ice Hockey Federation was invited to the party because the event brings together six different hockey federations, as well as the sovereign nations of “Team Everyone Else From Europe” and “The Young Guns.” While the World Cup is going to be played under NHL rules, the IIHF will have some influence, particularly when it comes to supplemental discipline.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly tells Yahoo Sports that suspensions and fines in the World Cup of Hockey tournament will be determined by a three-person panel. The first person is a representative from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. The second is a representative from NHL’s Department of Hockey Operations. The third is a representative from the IIHF.

Those three are the judge and jury, but there will also be an NHLPA representative “in an observer’s role,” according to Daly.

Under IIHF rules, players that are suspended in one tournament can have those suspensions carry over to other tournaments. Please recalled the knee-on-knee hit from Swedish defenseman Alex Edler on Canada’s Eric Staal, which resulted in a four-game suspension that bridged between the 2013 IIHF world championships and the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Would suspensions in the World Cup of Hockey carry over to other international tournaments?

“Absent extraordinary circumstances, discipline would be for the tournament only with no carryover,” said Daly, who added that “in extraordinary circumstances, each organization can treat as it sees fit.”

There are other off-ice decisions that need to be made, of course: Like the use of video review in the World Cup of Hockey.

The big news: There will be coach’s challenges in the World Cup.

This is a significant change from other IIHF events, as the challenge system that debuted in the NHL last season will be used in international competition. “There will be Coach’s Challenges and they will be decided in the same way as in the NHL,” said Daly.

That means reviews on offside calls and goaltender interference on goal-scoring plays will be up for review, with on-ice officials reviewing the plays.

All other video reviews outside of the challenge system – like plays reviewed to determine if a goal was scored – will be handled by the Situation Room in Toronto, with NHL-only personnel making the calls.

The on-ice officiating in the exhibition games of the World Cup will include a mix of NHL and IIHF officials, according to Scouting The Refs. The World Cup of Hockey preliminary rounds, semifinals and finals will be officiated by this collection of NHL personnel:

The World Cup of Hockey begins on Saturday, Sept. 17.

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE NHL ANALYSIS FROM GREG WYSHYNSKI AND JEFF MAREK ON THEIR PODCAST!