Ovechkin Says He'd Do Away With Video Review, Coach's Challenges If He Could Change One Rule In NHL

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin saw several goals taken off the board this past year due to video review and coach's challenges, and the captain admitted that he's tired of the trend.

Ovechkin said in an interview with, "It's Hockey, Brother!" that if he could change any rule in the NHL, it would be getting rid of video replays and coach's challenges.

"Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't," Ovechkin said, via a DeepL translation from sports.ru .

Washington lost the second-most challenges in the league this season, with nine decisions going in the other team's favor, per Scouting the Refs .

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One notable Ovechkin goal that was waved off came on Dec. 30 against the Nashville Predators, when the Russian's game-tying tally late in regulation was cancelled out due to goaltender interference in a controversial call.

"You make a challenge and realize there is goalie interference and there shouldn't be a goal, but it turns out that counts. If we have the same situation, on the contrary, they don't count it. So you sit there and think, 'Why do you need it at all?'" Ovechkin said.

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The 38-year-old, who is preparing for his 20th NHL season and sits 42 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record, added that the discrepancies and differing perspectives and situations on a nightly basis make the situation all the more frustrating.

"When you watch the video replay, the referees make decisions that aren't very clear, whether there was offside, whether there was a goal," Ovechkin said. "It's kind of unclear to me. They'd wave a goal off, but in the same situation in the next game, they made it count."