Gary Bettman addresses controversial NHL goalie interference rule

Gary Bettman spent quite a bit of time on defense at the 2026 NHL General Managers meetings earlier this week, which were held at the Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa in Manalapan, FL.

One place that continues to give league GM’s headaches is the video review rule regarding goaltender interference, which has also drawn the ire of fans.

The commissioner addressed those concerns on Wednesday.

“I think Hockey Operations does a sensational job with video review,’” Bettman said, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Pierre LeBrun. “And much like supplemental discipline, everyone is going to have an opinion, and when there’s a lot of close calls, it comes down to a judgment call. There are certain things about our game where you cannot get 100 percent certainty to everybody’s satisfaction.

“But again, if you look at the body of work, I think our video replay system not only has been a leader among the sports (leagues) because all the other systems are modeled on ours, it has held up extraordinarily well. Yeah, you’re going to get calls that some people disagree with. But that’s the way it goes. That’s the beauty of sport.”

As Russo and LeBrun reported, the league spent a good deal of time going over goalie interference and video review at the 2025 iteration of the meetings.

And, with the issue still prevalent, the hockey insiders reported that Anaheim Ducks GM Pat Verbeek was seeking “further clarification on Tuesday during the meetings, which we hear got a little testy, and it doesn’t sound like he was very satisfied with what he heard.”

Verbeek wasn’t the only one, with Carolina Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky also raising concerns over “the shifting standard of goalie interference/video review in lieu of the Verbeek conversion, seeking clarity on it as well,” per Russo and LeBrun.

It seems there is still quite a bit of misalignment regarding video review in the NHL, and although Bettman defended it, this is an issue that doesn’t seem to be going away. In fact, it will only get more delicate once the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin next month.

The post Gary Bettman addresses controversial NHL goalie interference rule appeared first on ClutchPoints.