On Thursday, we moved one step closer to the NHL ditching the spin-o-rama in shootouts. The league’s Board of Governors gave their approval of the change, which now just needs to go through the NHLPA for one final okay.
Spin-o-ramas can be fun to watch, but NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan argues that this is a matter of “integrity.”
“I think that there’s some very entertaining moves that you can still do in a shootout,” Shanahan told the Sporting News. “I think when we looked at some of the spin-o-ramas, there was a lot of interference with goaltenders, there was a lot of questions as to whether the puck was still moving forward or the player was still moving forward.
“So, certainly it’s all about entertainment, but it’s also about the integrity of the goal. I think that, over time, that’s become more and more in question.
“In communicating with the NHLPA and the competition committee, they agreed, and the goaltenders, and the forwards, and the scorers—is it entertaining? Yes. Is it always agreed upon that these goals have the integrity of what should be a goal? Not necessarily.
“So I think that was the reason, and when you look at some of the goals I’ve seen from guys like (Calder Trophy winner Jonathan) Huberdeau and (Detroit Red Wings star Pavel) Datsyuk, it doesn’t have to be a spin-o-rama to be an entertaining goal in a shootout.”
Shanahan is obviously far from the only critic of the spin-o-rama. Mike Milbury strongly argued against it in 2012: