The NHL Now Just Making Up Rules As They Go

No, it seems dead on. This is ridiculous. They didn't have a penalty for this in the past because they didn't think anyone would actually be dumb enough to remove them self from the play with the sole intention of trying to distract the goalie. But Sean Avery proved us wrong.

I think its crap that they just make up the rules. This isn't a safety issue its just someone being smarter than the rule book. If they want to make a change they should do it in the off season like the other sports. But hey at least people are paying attention to hockey.

I am in between. I think the NHL has become worse than the No Fun League (NFL) with some b.s. changes and rules, but Avery really took it far.

I don't want to see some "nancy" dancing in front of the goalie.

Forget making the rule; they should make Avery wear a TUTU for a couple games or publicly apologize for making a mockery.

Now, on a side note, regarding Avery's "tactics", this is totally something I would do ;)

If defensemen were still able to clear guys out from in front of the net, this wouldn't have happened.

Exactly,FF25.Why didn't Brodeur just decapitate that a-hole?I gotta tell ya I can barely stand to watch the NHL anymore.They've got everything so botched since the strike year it's RIDIICULOUS.As a proud subscriber to satellite T.V. I have to give up comcast.This cut my bill in half, gave me three times the channels.........and made hockey impossible for me to watch at home.Stories like this don't make me miss it.

they didnt need to establish a "new rule" to penalize this. the linesman woulda been completely justified giving him a 10 min. misconduct for taunting. and he wasnt just screening, he was tying to provoke the devils into a penalty.
Straight from the nhl rulebook:
75.4 Misconduct Penalty
(iii) Any player or goalkeeper who, after warning by the Referee, persists
in any course of conduct (including threatening or abusive language
or gestures or similar actions) designed to incite an opponent into
incurring a penalty.
and to everyone blaming the nhl and bettman: dont blame them, blame that chump avery. both the announcer and brodeur said they've never seen anything like that in the nhl. like daveissac said, they didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to try it

Avery is absurd not the rule.

I agree about the rule, the timing is ridiculous, especially in a sport that takes pride and speaks ad nauseum about 'policing itself'.

"Does this seem absurd to anyone else or is it just me?" I was gonna say it's just you, but apparently a lot of people agree with you. I don't happen to. Avery isn't playing hockey with these antics--he's trying to distract the goalie from playing hockey. There are similar rules against this type of behavior in baseball (Alex Rodriguez skirted the rule last season and raised a lot of controversy) and football (the defensive players cannot call signals out to drown out the opposing QB's calls). Ask yourselves this: if you let Avery and others do this, where does this kind of distractive interference stop? How does this kind of distractive interference contribute to the quality of play in the league? I DO agree that imposing this rule in the middle of the playoffs is a little weird. I'm also surprised other players haven't tried this level of BS before.

"if you let Avery and others do this, where does this kind of distractive interference stop?"
It stops in the offseason, when the competition committee gets together and amends the rule. Or it stops when the next time he tries to do something like this, a Devils defenseman knocks him on his ass. When it shouldn't stop is in the middle of the first round of the playoffs due to an immediate rule change.

Also, screening the goalie is part of hockey and is not in any way similar to A-Rod yelling during a fly ball or a LB screaming out fake signals. The only difference between what usually happens and what Avery did was that he was facing Brodeur and the hand gestures were blatantly over the top. On top of that, it's not a smart play, by turning his back takes himself out of the play.

The rule has always been on the books, all the NHL was doing was letting everyone know refs will enforce the rule so don't be surprised from this point forward.

I see nothing wrong with it, if you put your team down two men it comes with "disadvantages." What's the difference if he stands infront of him with his back turned? And I agree that if defense were able to clear guys out from infront of the net this wouldn't happen. Congrats to Gary Bettman, messing up hockey once again.

I think it is inappropriate behaviour, and would have given him a unsportsmanship penalty. Avery just needed to extend his stick back a little bit more to play up the fake wack to the head, and you can't expect Brodeur (or any player for that matter), to just stand there and expect to get hit in the head. It's also a form of taunting. Image if more players did this. It becomes a spectacle making hockey look like a circus farce. I would have sent him off for 2 minutes to send him a message.