CHL introduces on-ice Rule Innovations for 2023/24 Season

The Champions Hockey League will draw attention to the upcoming season with a novelty: Europe’s elite club ice hockey competition will introduce three on-ice rule innovations as a first mover.

With the aim of developing the sport of ice hockey and its future, as well as increasing the overall excitement for fans, the CHL Sport Committee has discussed a variety of potential on-ice rule innovations over the last couple of weeks and months. After the evaluation of various options, the selection was narrowed down to three innovative rule changes which will change the game, add an extra layer of excitement, but not undermine credibility.

The following three on-ice rule changes will be introduced starting with the 2023/24 Champions Hockey League season:

Minor penalties dealt the same as major: a team which caused a minor penalty will remain shorthanded even if the opposing team score a goal
Serving delayed penalties: a minor penalty will be served even if a goal is scored while a delayed penalty is pending
Shorthander erases current minor penalty: if a shorthanded team score, the minor penalty against will end

“The right balance of innovation, excitement and credibility" CHL CEO Martin Baumann

"We’ve come up with three simple, but efficient changes that have high potential to add extra excitement to the game,” said CHL CEO Martin Baumann. Since the CHL is a pan-European competition which teams play in addition to their national leagues, it was important to create rules that can be implemented without significant effort regarding training and education of game officials, teams and other relevant parties. “All three changes are non-intrusive and very easy for everyone to understand,” commented Baumann.

First-mover strategy

“The process to develop rule innovations was part of an overall strategy review in which the relevant stakeholders decided that the CHL shall project its capacity for innovation from other areas to the game and consider new or different rules and implement them as a first mover,“ added Baumann, “I’m very satisfied with the outcome and think we’ve managed to come up with changes that have the right balance of innovation, excitement and credibility. It will be interesting to see how they change the game.”

Rule change overview

Rule	Minor penalties dealt the same as major	Serving delayed penalties	Shorthander erases current minor penalty
Description	A team which caused a minor penalty will remain shorthanded even if the opposing team score a goal. Consequently, the penalised player must stay in the penalty box for the entire duration of the minor penalty.	A minor penalty will be served even if a goal is scored while a delayed penalty is pending.	If a shorthanded team score during a minor penalty, the penalty against will end.
Aim	Principle approach – a penalised player must serve his penalty for rule infringement no matter what. -- Streamline rules by using the same approach for minor and major penalties. -- Increase the advantage for the team who will have a powerplay. -- Enhance scoring opportunities. -- Potentially more goals scored.	Principle approach – a penalised player must serve his penalty for rule infringement no matter what. -- Increase the advantage for the non-offending team either during the delay or during the penalty. -- Potentially more goals scored.	Provide an opportunity to the shorthanded team. -- Incentivise a shorthander with an additional benefit. -- Stimulate risk taking of the shorthanded team resulting in more excitement.