How Hockey ChangedRules

Spearing Hit Zero. Hooking Never Went Away.

In 1958-59, NHL referees called a spear about once every six games. In the last two seasons they called none. Hooking outlasted every crackdown the league declared on it. After the 2005 lockout, hooking calls nearly tripled. By 2011-12 they were back below their level from before the lockout, and today they run about a third under it. Penalties as a whole fell about as far.

Verdict: Data story

By Edgehalla ResearchPublished 17 min read

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At 14:03 of the second period on March 30, 2024, in Minnesota, Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights drew a five-minute major for spearing.

It was the last spearing call in an NHL regular-season game. Through the end of 2025-26 the league played 2,757 more games without one.

Hooking went the other way. Referees went after it in 1995-96, in 1998 and again in 2005. In 2025-26 they still called it 1,102 times.

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Penalties fell after 2005, and hooking fell with them

Which penalties has the NHL stopped calling, and has any crackdown ever made one go away for good? We counted every penalty in the league’s game files, sorted by what the referee called it, from 1947-48 to 2025-26. That is 673,508 penalties in 60,755 games.

Two fouls are close to gone: spearing and charging. Hooking and holding are still on the penalty sheet, the list of every call in a season. The league cracked down on them three times, and they fell, but no faster than anything else.

Count calls per game first. In the three seasons before the 2004-05 lockout, referees called about 11.4 penalties a game, both teams together. Over the last three seasons they called about 7.1. Penalties as a whole fell about 38%. Hooking went from about 1.3 calls a game to 0.8, down about 36%. Holding went from about 1.0 to 0.6, down about 39%.

Now count them as a share of the sheet. Before the lockout, hooking made up about 11 of every 100 calls. Over the last three seasons it made up about 12. Holding was about 9 in 100 then and about 9 now. Referees blow the whistle less often than they did, and when they do, a hook is still about one call in every 9.

Hooking and holding fell about as far as penalties as a whole. Tripping rose

Calls a game in 2023-24 to 2025-26, as a share of calls a game in 2001-02 to 2003-04, the three seasons before the lockout. 100 = no change; 62 = 38% fewer. Regular season

Penalties as a whole are at 62 for every 100 before the lockout; hooking 64, holding 61, tripping 129 and holding the stick 21.

All penalties together11.4 a game before, 7.1 now
62
Hooking1.3 a game before, 0.8 now
64
Holding1.0 a game before, 0.6 now
61
Interference0.9 a game before, 0.6 now
63
Cross-checking0.5 a game before, 0.3 now
68
Slashing0.7 a game before, 0.6 now
86
Holding the stick0.4 a game before, 0.1 now
21
Tripping1.0 a game before, 1.3 now
129
100 = no change. "All penalties together" counts every foul call (an infraction); misconducts, ejections and penalty-shot awards are left out. The notes give calls per game, both teams together. The three seasons before the lockout total 3,690 games; the latest three 3,936.

Read each bar against the line. Hooking, holding and interference sit right on it: they fell about as far as everything else. Holding the stick fell to about a fifth of its old rate. Tripping is the one big penalty that went up, and it stayed up. The rest of this story is how each of those got there, starting with a scoresheet from 1955.

In the 1950s the referee’s list looked different

The game files only start naming fouls in 1947-48. Before that, fewer than one penalty in 20 says anything but “minor” or “major”, so the story starts there. Across the 30 seasons before, the league logged 35,124 penalties, almost none of which we can sort.

In 1955-56 Jean Béliveau scored 47 goals for Montreal, the most in the league, and led it with 88 points. He was also called for high-sticking 26 times. Only Dale Hunter, with 29 in 1985-86, has had more in a season. That year was the peak of the high stick: referees called about 202 for every 100 games, two a night. Charging peaked the same season, at about one call every two games.

Tripping was the most-called penalty of the 1950s, about 160 for every 100 games and 17% of all calls. Bill Gadsby holds both tripping records: 23 in 1949-50 and 182 over his career. High-sticking was second, hooking third, holding fourth, and charging ninth.

Tripping led the list in the 1950s and leads it again. Charging fell out of sight

Calls per 100 regular-season games, both teams, in the 1950s (1950-51 to 1959-60) and the 2020s (2020-21 to 2025-26). The 12 most-called penalties of either decade

Show data
Tripping 160 then 130; hooking 119 then 88; charging 36 then 0.7.
1950s2020sChange
Tripping160 per 100 games130 per 100 games−31 per 100 games
High-sticking141 per 100 games60 per 100 games−81 per 100 games
Hooking119 per 100 games88 per 100 games−31 per 100 games
Holding112 per 100 games61 per 100 games−51 per 100 games
Roughing84 per 100 games82 per 100 games−2 per 100 games
Interference76 per 100 games60 per 100 games−17 per 100 games
Slashing59 per 100 games59 per 100 games+0 per 100 games
Fighting39 per 100 games48 per 100 games+9 per 100 games
Charging36 per 100 games1 per 100 games−36 per 100 games
Cross-checking31 per 100 games37 per 100 games+6 per 100 games
Elbowing24 per 100 games3 per 100 games−21 per 100 games
Boarding23 per 100 games8 per 100 games−15 per 100 games
Puck over glass0 per 100 games21 per 100 games+21 per 100 games
Too many men5 per 100 games15 per 100 games+11 per 100 games
Unsportsmanlike conduct0 per 100 games9 per 100 games+9 per 100 games
Fighting counts fighting majors. Puck over glass counts the delay-of-game penalty for shooting the puck out of play over the glass. Misconducts, ejections and penalty-shot awards are left out.

Each line runs from a 1950s rate on the left to a 2020s rate on the right. Most lines slope down, because the whole sheet shrank. Tripping leads both lists, at 17% of calls then and 18% now. Hooking has climbed to second, holding is still fourth, and charging has dropped from ninth to 25th. Puck over glass and too many men, almost never called in the 1950s, are on today’s list.

The list of names grew too. In 1947-48 the scorers used 24 different names for penalties. By 2015-16 they used 56. In 2025-26 it was 53.

Charging and spearing faded for 70 years, then hit bottom

Start with the fouls that are gone. Lou Fontinato, a Montreal and New York defenceman, holds two of the records. He was called for charging 16 times in 54 games in 1961-62 and for spearing 6 times in 63 games in 1962-63. Only Eddie Shack, with 92, was called for charging more often in a career than Fontinato’s 75. Ted Lindsay leads career spearing with 17.

Charging fell from about 54 calls for every 100 games in 1955-56 to 12 in 2000-01. In 2025-26 referees called it nine times all season, in 1,312 games. Spearing fell from about 17 for every 100 games in 1958-59 to one call every 300 games by 2000-01.

Part of spearing’s fall is paperwork. Up to 1973-74, most spears were called as two-minute minors. Then the minors stopped. From 1974-75 to 1996-97 the files show a single spearing minor, in 1978-79; the rest are five-minute majors. From 1980-81 some spears are double minors, four minutes in the box. A few minors come back from 1997-98, the last in 2009-10. We found no rule text for the switch. So some of the early drop may be referees calling the same jab something else, or calling only the worst ones.

The last three spears came in one season. Trevor Zegras of Anaheim took a four-minute double minor on Dec. 31, 2023. Matt Grzelcyk of Boston took a major on Feb. 10, 2024. Then came Eichel. Charging has not quite reached zero: thirteen calls in the last two seasons.

The body fouls of the 1950s and 1960s faded to almost nothing

Calls per 100 regular-season games, both teams, 1947-48 to 2025-26

Show data
Charging 54 at its peak to 0.7; elbowing 69 to 2.4; boarding 41 to 6.1; spearing 17 to 0.
SeasonChargingElbowingBoardingSpearingKneeingGoalie delay of game
1947-4836 per 100 games54 per 100 games32 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1948-4947 per 100 games54 per 100 games24 per 100 games1 per 100 games2 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1949-5038 per 100 games40 per 100 games14 per 100 games4 per 100 games2 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1950-5130 per 100 games30 per 100 games20 per 100 games3 per 100 games3 per 100 games6 per 100 games
1951-5216 per 100 games14 per 100 games41 per 100 games7 per 100 games4 per 100 games9 per 100 games
1952-5320 per 100 games15 per 100 games31 per 100 games3 per 100 games5 per 100 games7 per 100 games
1953-5431 per 100 games25 per 100 games27 per 100 games7 per 100 games4 per 100 games5 per 100 games
1954-5524 per 100 games23 per 100 games18 per 100 games3 per 100 games4 per 100 games4 per 100 games
1955-5654 per 100 games34 per 100 games25 per 100 games9 per 100 games9 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1956-5748 per 100 games29 per 100 games15 per 100 games13 per 100 games7 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1957-5840 per 100 games22 per 100 games14 per 100 games8 per 100 games4 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1958-5949 per 100 games27 per 100 games18 per 100 games17 per 100 games3 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1959-6049 per 100 games24 per 100 games19 per 100 games8 per 100 games4 per 100 games5 per 100 games
1960-6133 per 100 games19 per 100 games13 per 100 games9 per 100 games2 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1961-6250 per 100 games31 per 100 games25 per 100 games7 per 100 games4 per 100 games6 per 100 games
1962-6333 per 100 games36 per 100 games18 per 100 games11 per 100 games4 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1963-6443 per 100 games49 per 100 games27 per 100 games9 per 100 games3 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1964-6531 per 100 games61 per 100 games31 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1965-6643 per 100 games54 per 100 games34 per 100 games4 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1966-6737 per 100 games69 per 100 games31 per 100 games4 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1967-6832 per 100 games39 per 100 games27 per 100 games5 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1968-6926 per 100 games47 per 100 games24 per 100 games4 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1969-7038 per 100 games56 per 100 games22 per 100 games4 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1970-7127 per 100 games68 per 100 games19 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1971-7218 per 100 games52 per 100 games16 per 100 games5 per 100 games2 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1972-7319 per 100 games45 per 100 games14 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1973-7417 per 100 games44 per 100 games10 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1974-7518 per 100 games42 per 100 games10 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1975-7619 per 100 games40 per 100 games9 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1976-7718 per 100 games33 per 100 games5 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1977-7817 per 100 games36 per 100 games6 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1978-7917 per 100 games31 per 100 games8 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1979-8015 per 100 games30 per 100 games6 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1980-8116 per 100 games32 per 100 games8 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1981-8212 per 100 games31 per 100 games4 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1982-8312 per 100 games28 per 100 games4 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1983-8412 per 100 games30 per 100 games4 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1984-8510 per 100 games31 per 100 games6 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1985-8612 per 100 games32 per 100 games4 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1986-8712 per 100 games32 per 100 games5 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1987-8814 per 100 games29 per 100 games12 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1988-8913 per 100 games37 per 100 games14 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1989-9017 per 100 games32 per 100 games11 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1990-9119 per 100 games37 per 100 games14 per 100 games6 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1991-9219 per 100 games41 per 100 games17 per 100 games5 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1992-9315 per 100 games42 per 100 games17 per 100 games5 per 100 games5 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1993-9417 per 100 games35 per 100 games19 per 100 games3 per 100 games4 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1994-9519 per 100 games29 per 100 games22 per 100 games3 per 100 games4 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1995-9620 per 100 games27 per 100 games20 per 100 games2 per 100 games6 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1996-9714 per 100 games22 per 100 games19 per 100 games2 per 100 games4 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1997-9812 per 100 games24 per 100 games19 per 100 games2 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1998-999 per 100 games26 per 100 games26 per 100 games1 per 100 games4 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1999-0011 per 100 games21 per 100 games24 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2000-0112 per 100 games27 per 100 games33 per 100 games0 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2001-028 per 100 games24 per 100 games25 per 100 games1 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2002-0312 per 100 games18 per 100 games20 per 100 games0 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2003-049 per 100 games17 per 100 games21 per 100 games1 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2004-05––––––
2005-068 per 100 games11 per 100 games24 per 100 games0 per 100 games3 per 100 games4 per 100 games
2006-078 per 100 games11 per 100 games18 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games3 per 100 games
2007-085 per 100 games10 per 100 games19 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2008-095 per 100 games9 per 100 games21 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games
2009-105 per 100 games8 per 100 games25 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2010-116 per 100 games9 per 100 games28 per 100 games0 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games
2011-126 per 100 games9 per 100 games27 per 100 games0 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2012-135 per 100 games7 per 100 games28 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games3 per 100 games
2013-144 per 100 games6 per 100 games22 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games
2014-153 per 100 games6 per 100 games17 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2015-163 per 100 games6 per 100 games16 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2016-172 per 100 games3 per 100 games11 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2017-181 per 100 games5 per 100 games9 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2018-191 per 100 games4 per 100 games9 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2019-201 per 100 games4 per 100 games9 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2020-211 per 100 games5 per 100 games10 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games
2021-221 per 100 games3 per 100 games8 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2022-231 per 100 games3 per 100 games9 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2023-241 per 100 games3 per 100 games11 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games
2024-250 per 100 games2 per 100 games7 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
2025-261 per 100 games2 per 100 games6 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games1 per 100 games
From 1974-75 to 1996-97 spearing is called almost only as a major (one minor), later also as a double minor. Boarding includes checking into the boards; checking from behind is its own penalty from 1991-92. The 2004-05 season was cancelled.

Each panel is one foul over 78 seasons. Elbowing peaked at about 69 for every 100 games in 1966-67, was 27 in 2000-01 and is 2.4 now. Boarding ran 41 in 1951-52 and 33 in 2000-01, and is 6.1 now. Kneeing went from 9.1 to 2.7 to 1.0. Goalies used to be called for smothering the puck or wandering from the crease about 9 times in 100 games in 1951-52; it was 0.7 by 2000-01 and is 1.2 now. Butt-ending, never common, last reached one call in 100 games in 1987-88.

Fighting majors fell too, from 110 for every 100 games in 2000-01 to 47 in 2025-26. Our fighting story tells that one.

A new penalty shows up the season the rulebook names it, or later

If fouls can die, can a rule give birth to new ones? It can, but only once the scorer has a word for it. In the three seasons before 1991-92, the files show no goalie-interference calls at all.

Three arrived right on time. Checking from behind became a major in 1991-92 and shows up that season. Goalie interference got stricter rules the same season, and the label appears then too. Holding an opponent’s stick became a minor in 1992-93. Referees called it about 63 times for every 100 games that first season, and Mark Lamb was called for it 10 times in 71 games. Today it is down to about 8.

Two came late. Diving became a minor in 1992-93, but the word “diving” first shows up in 1995-96, three seasons on. In 2012-13 a new word, embellishment, for faking or exaggerating a foul, appears twice, and from 2014-15 it takes over. Sean Avery and Jarkko Ruutu share the career lead, at 12 calls each. The instigator penalty for starting a fight dates to a 1976-77 rule, yet it doesn’t show up as a steady label until 1986-87, when it peaked at about 35 calls for every 100 games. In 1992-93 the league added a game misconduct for instigating, which throws the player out of the game. Instigator calls fell from about 26 for every 100 games to 10: 665 calls in the three seasons before, 272 in the three after.

Was it the rule, or luck? Penalty counts jump around from one season to the next even in years when nobody touches the rulebook. So we took every other switch from one season to the next since 1947 that sat far enough from 1992 to compare, 66 of them, and made the same three-against-three comparison. Only three moved instigator calls that much. Then we checked just one season against the next. That needs fewer seasons on each side, so 74 switches qualify, and only one of them did. The drop is probably real. It also held: three seasons later, instigator calls were still down at about 8 for every 100 games. We ran this luck check, ordinary years against the rule year, on every rule change in this story.

The rulebook keeps adding names, and the files follow

New names kept coming. Some appear with no rule we could find. Unsportsmanlike conduct, a handful of calls before, becomes a regular call in 1975-76 and peaks in 1990-91. In 1980-81, misconducts jumped to about 81 for every 100 games from 23 the season before, and unsportsmanlike calls to 39 from 13. That is one season, and we have no explanation for it. A few labels are too rare to read anything into: head-butting peaked at 0.4 calls for every 100 games, and clipping at 1.2.

The modern rulebook keeps going. An illegal check to the head first appears in 2010-11, five calls, all majors. A minor version follows in 2011-12. It peaked at 38 calls in 2014-15 and was called 12 times in 2025-26. Playing without a helmet has drawn 17 minors since 2019-20. Pulling off an opponent’s helmet counts as roughing, 72 times since 2021-22. The gross misconduct, an ejection the league later scrapped, last appears in 2006-07.

Each new penalty starts the season the rulebook adds it, or a few seasons later

Calls per 100 regular-season games, both teams, 1947-48 to 2025-26

Show data
Holding the stick starts at 63 in 1992-93; diving first shows in 1995-96; the head check first shows in 2010-11; delay of game jumps in 2017-18 when failed coach’s challenges join it.
SeasonChecking from behindGoalie interferenceHolding the stickDiving and embellishmentInstigatorUnsportsmanlike conductIllegal check to the headDelay of game
1947-480 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1948-490 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1949-500 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1950-510 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1951-520 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1952-530 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1953-540 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1954-550 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1955-560 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1956-570 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1957-580 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1958-590 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1959-600 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1960-610 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games
1961-620 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1962-630 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1963-640 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1964-650 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1965-660 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games8 per 100 games
1966-670 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games
1967-680 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games2 per 100 games
1968-690 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games11 per 100 games
1969-700 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1970-710 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games3 per 100 games
1971-720 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games8 per 100 games
1972-730 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games7 per 100 games
1973-740 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games7 per 100 games
1974-750 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games12 per 100 games
1975-760 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games18 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games
1976-770 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games12 per 100 games0 per 100 games13 per 100 games
1977-780 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games12 per 100 games0 per 100 games8 per 100 games
1978-790 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games13 per 100 games0 per 100 games14 per 100 games
1979-800 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games1 per 100 games13 per 100 games0 per 100 games14 per 100 games
1980-810 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games39 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games
1981-820 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games15 per 100 games0 per 100 games9 per 100 games
1982-830 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games14 per 100 games0 per 100 games9 per 100 games
1983-840 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games0 per 100 games13 per 100 games
1984-850 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games9 per 100 games0 per 100 games8 per 100 games
1985-860 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games13 per 100 games0 per 100 games18 per 100 games
1986-870 per 100 games1 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games35 per 100 games10 per 100 games0 per 100 games22 per 100 games
1987-880 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games28 per 100 games33 per 100 games0 per 100 games24 per 100 games
1988-890 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games29 per 100 games43 per 100 games0 per 100 games17 per 100 games
1989-900 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games27 per 100 games49 per 100 games0 per 100 games14 per 100 games
1990-910 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games27 per 100 games60 per 100 games0 per 100 games12 per 100 games
1991-924 per 100 games7 per 100 games0 per 100 games0 per 100 games24 per 100 games58 per 100 games0 per 100 games12 per 100 games
1992-932 per 100 games7 per 100 games63 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games54 per 100 games0 per 100 games12 per 100 games
1993-943 per 100 games11 per 100 games45 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games48 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games
1994-953 per 100 games17 per 100 games31 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games32 per 100 games0 per 100 games11 per 100 games
1995-962 per 100 games18 per 100 games30 per 100 games3 per 100 games7 per 100 games37 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games
1996-972 per 100 games12 per 100 games26 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games33 per 100 games0 per 100 games7 per 100 games
1997-981 per 100 games11 per 100 games40 per 100 games0 per 100 games8 per 100 games29 per 100 games0 per 100 games7 per 100 games
1998-991 per 100 games12 per 100 games36 per 100 games5 per 100 games6 per 100 games25 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games
1999-001 per 100 games15 per 100 games36 per 100 games3 per 100 games3 per 100 games21 per 100 games0 per 100 games8 per 100 games
2000-010 per 100 games17 per 100 games35 per 100 games2 per 100 games6 per 100 games27 per 100 games0 per 100 games8 per 100 games
2001-021 per 100 games19 per 100 games38 per 100 games7 per 100 games9 per 100 games23 per 100 games0 per 100 games9 per 100 games
2002-031 per 100 games18 per 100 games38 per 100 games10 per 100 games6 per 100 games30 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games
2003-041 per 100 games23 per 100 games34 per 100 games8 per 100 games6 per 100 games29 per 100 games0 per 100 games9 per 100 games
2004-05––––––––
2005-061 per 100 games24 per 100 games27 per 100 games9 per 100 games5 per 100 games20 per 100 games0 per 100 games8 per 100 games
2006-070 per 100 games20 per 100 games21 per 100 games9 per 100 games6 per 100 games20 per 100 games0 per 100 games10 per 100 games
2007-080 per 100 games16 per 100 games17 per 100 games6 per 100 games4 per 100 games17 per 100 games0 per 100 games7 per 100 games
2008-090 per 100 games18 per 100 games15 per 100 games3 per 100 games4 per 100 games19 per 100 games0 per 100 games7 per 100 games
2009-100 per 100 games19 per 100 games13 per 100 games3 per 100 games5 per 100 games15 per 100 games0 per 100 games4 per 100 games
2010-110 per 100 games20 per 100 games11 per 100 games3 per 100 games4 per 100 games12 per 100 games0 per 100 games4 per 100 games
2011-121 per 100 games22 per 100 games10 per 100 games3 per 100 games3 per 100 games16 per 100 games2 per 100 games4 per 100 games
2012-131 per 100 games18 per 100 games9 per 100 games5 per 100 games6 per 100 games23 per 100 games1 per 100 games7 per 100 games
2013-140 per 100 games14 per 100 games9 per 100 games4 per 100 games3 per 100 games16 per 100 games3 per 100 games7 per 100 games
2014-150 per 100 games13 per 100 games12 per 100 games7 per 100 games2 per 100 games13 per 100 games3 per 100 games6 per 100 games
2015-160 per 100 games9 per 100 games11 per 100 games6 per 100 games2 per 100 games14 per 100 games3 per 100 games5 per 100 games
2016-170 per 100 games10 per 100 games11 per 100 games4 per 100 games3 per 100 games9 per 100 games1 per 100 games4 per 100 games
2017-180 per 100 games8 per 100 games7 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games8 per 100 games1 per 100 games8 per 100 games
2018-190 per 100 games7 per 100 games8 per 100 games3 per 100 games1 per 100 games9 per 100 games2 per 100 games8 per 100 games
2019-200 per 100 games6 per 100 games7 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games6 per 100 games2 per 100 games8 per 100 games
2020-210 per 100 games7 per 100 games6 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games6 per 100 games2 per 100 games8 per 100 games
2021-220 per 100 games7 per 100 games8 per 100 games3 per 100 games3 per 100 games10 per 100 games2 per 100 games7 per 100 games
2022-230 per 100 games8 per 100 games7 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games9 per 100 games2 per 100 games6 per 100 games
2023-240 per 100 games6 per 100 games8 per 100 games2 per 100 games2 per 100 games11 per 100 games2 per 100 games7 per 100 games
2024-250 per 100 games7 per 100 games7 per 100 games2 per 100 games1 per 100 games9 per 100 games1 per 100 games7 per 100 games
2025-260 per 100 games6 per 100 games8 per 100 games3 per 100 games2 per 100 games7 per 100 games1 per 100 games7 per 100 games
Diving includes embellishment (from 2012-13). Delay of game includes failed coach’s challenges from 2017-18, logged under their own name from 2019-20 (80 in 2025-26). Instigator counts the instigator minor and the older aggressor and face-shield calls, not the 10-minute instigator misconduct. The 2004-05 season was cancelled.

All but one panel sit at or near zero until the label arrives; delay of game is an old call. Checking from behind peaked at about 4 for every 100 games, and has barely been called since 2003-04. Goalie interference was 17 in 2000-01 and is 6 now. Delay of game jumps from about 4 to 8 in 2017-18. That season a failed offside challenge by a coach became a delay minor, so some of those calls are coaches’ mistakes, not players’.

In 2023-24 the files show 31 instigator misconducts, the 10-minute add-on that sends the player to the box without leaving his team short, against 32 instigator minors. The season before, there were 10 add-ons. Count each add-on as a second instigator call and 2023-24 looks like a sudden rush of fights started. We count the instigator once and the add-on as a misconduct.

Puck over glass is older than its 2005 rule

Shooting the puck over the glass became an automatic penalty in 2005. The files show it is older than that. On Dec. 12, 1974, at home against Los Angeles, Bobby Orr shot the puck over the glass at 15:29 of the first period and went to the box for delay of game. The files call it by the same name used today.

Orr’s was one of 42 regular-season calls under that label before the lockout, from 1953-54 to 1983-84, and 23 of them came in 1974-75 alone. Goalies took 13. Guy Lafleur took two. Thirteen came in games at the Montreal Forum, which hints that one building’s scorers used the label more than others. The last came on March 15, 1984, at the Forum, when Paul Coffey of Edmonton was called at 19:41 of the third period. A 1970-71 rule had made it a “Minor penalty added for deliberately shooting the puck out of the playing area,” according to Scouting the Refs’ list of rule changes. After Coffey’s call the label disappears from the files until 2005. Any calls in between went under another name, most likely plain delay of game.

In 2005 the league dropped the intent test: the referee no longer had to decide whether the player meant to shoot it out. “Coming out of the 2005 lockout, the NHL introduced several new rules in an attempt to increase offense and speed up the game,” Sean McIndoe wrote in Grantland in 2012. One made it “an automatic minor penalty for a player in his own zone to shoot the puck over the glass and out of play.” He called the rule a fix for a problem that “never existed.”

Puck over glass was a rare call until 2005, and it has stayed

Puck-over-glass calls per 100 regular-season games, both teams, 1947-48 to 2025-26

Show data
23 calls in 1974-75 was the old peak; 34.1 per 100 games in 2005-06, and between 19 and 29 every season since.
SeasonPuck over glass
1947-480 per 100 games
1948-490 per 100 games
1949-500 per 100 games
1950-510 per 100 games
1951-520 per 100 games
1952-530 per 100 games
1953-540 per 100 games
1954-550 per 100 games
1955-560 per 100 games
1956-570 per 100 games
1957-580 per 100 games
1958-590 per 100 games
1959-600 per 100 games
1960-610 per 100 games
1961-620 per 100 games
1962-630 per 100 games
1963-640 per 100 games
1964-650 per 100 games
1965-660 per 100 games
1966-670 per 100 games
1967-680 per 100 games
1968-690 per 100 games
1969-700 per 100 games
1970-710 per 100 games
1971-722 per 100 games
1972-730 per 100 games
1973-740 per 100 games
1974-753 per 100 games
1975-760 per 100 games
1976-770 per 100 games
1977-780 per 100 games
1978-790 per 100 games
1979-800 per 100 games
1980-810 per 100 games
1981-820 per 100 games
1982-830 per 100 games
1983-840 per 100 games
1984-850 per 100 games
1985-860 per 100 games
1986-870 per 100 games
1987-880 per 100 games
1988-890 per 100 games
1989-900 per 100 games
1990-910 per 100 games
1991-920 per 100 games
1992-930 per 100 games
1993-940 per 100 games
1994-950 per 100 games
1995-960 per 100 games
1996-970 per 100 games
1997-980 per 100 games
1998-990 per 100 games
1999-000 per 100 games
2000-010 per 100 games
2001-020 per 100 games
2002-030 per 100 games
2003-040 per 100 games
2004-05–
2005-0634 per 100 games
2006-0724 per 100 games
2007-0826 per 100 games
2008-0927 per 100 games
2009-1024 per 100 games
2010-1128 per 100 games
2011-1224 per 100 games
2012-1322 per 100 games
2013-1423 per 100 games
2014-1522 per 100 games
2015-1626 per 100 games
2016-1721 per 100 games
2017-1822 per 100 games
2018-1920 per 100 games
2019-2022 per 100 games
2020-2120 per 100 games
2021-2219 per 100 games
2022-2321 per 100 games
2023-2421 per 100 games
2024-2522 per 100 games
2025-2620 per 100 games
  • 1970-71: Deliberate shot out of play a minor
  • 2005-06: Automatic minor
  • 2016-17: Judged on the puck
The same label, delaying-game-puck-over-glass, runs from 1953-54 to 2025-26. From 1984-85 to 2004-05 the label does not appear; such calls were probably logged as plain delay of game. The 2004-05 season was cancelled.

The line barely leaves zero for 50 years, then jumps. In 2005-06 referees called it about 34 times for every 100 games. It has run between 19 and 29 every season since, 10th of all penalties in both the 2010s and the 2020s. Zdeno Chara took it more than anyone: 32 times. Of all the rule changes we tested, it is the clearest case of a rule that raised a penalty and kept it there.

The 1970-71 rule left no clear mark: calls for delay and puck over glass went from about 5.2 for every 100 games to 6.9, a change about half of all ordinary years match. The 2005 rule did leave one. Counting puck over glass and plain delay of game together, calls went from about 9 for every 100 games in the three seasons before to 36 in the three after, and none of 67 ordinary years moved them that much. The 2016-17 tweak, judging the call on where the puck crossed and not where the skates were, took them from about 29 to 28. That is noise.

By 1994 the league was worried about hooking and holding

Orr’s penalty went up and stayed up because a rule made it automatic. The fouls the league fought hardest got crackdowns instead. A stick hooked around a forward’s waist, an arm across his chest, a body in his path: the league lumps all of it together as obstruction. In our counts that means five calls: hooking, holding, interference, tripping and holding the stick.

Paul Coffey set the mark for holding. In 1988-89 he was called for holding 31 times in 75 games for Pittsburgh, the most by anyone in a season, and scored 113 points, sixth in the league. He leads career holding with 185. Tim Horton is second, with 182, and leads interference with 114.

By February 1994 the league was worried. “League officials are concerned about an outbreak of restraining fouls,” Steve Dryden wrote in The Hockey News. “Through 669 games, hooking calls were the same as 1992-93 (967 to 967),” he wrote, and interference calls “had dropped by 27 per cent (834 to 610).” Glen Sather, the Edmonton coach and general manager, said: “We pick guys all over the ice now.” Toronto’s Cliff Fletcher said, “There’s no doubt in my mind there is too much interference in the game today.” Winnipeg’s John Paddock: “It was clutch and grab and hold and tackle and trip.”

Our counts match The Hockey News’s 1994 tally, so the old files can be trusted

Five of the magazine’s six counts match ours exactly; the sixth is off by one.

Hooking, 1992-93, first 669 games968
THN: 967
Holding, 1992-93, first 669 games972
THN: 972
Interference, 1992-93, first 669 games834
THN: 834
Hooking, 1993-94, first 669 games967
THN: 967
Holding, 1993-94, first 669 games932
THN: 932
Interference, 1993-94, first 669 games610
THN: 610

That match matters for everything that follows. If the old game files had lost or mislabelled calls, the magazine’s count would not line up. We took the first 669 games of each season by date and counted the same three fouls. Five of the six numbers match the magazine exactly. The other, hooking in 1992-93, is off by one.

Before 2005, each push on obstruction faded within months

The worry turned into crackdowns. The 1995-96 season opened with referees calling obstruction hard. In the first half of October 1995 referees called about 8.2 obstruction fouls a game, across 53 games. By early April it was 5.2. The season as a whole was the second-biggest one-year jump in the record. An ordinary season moves that much about one time in 24, so it was probably real. But after Christmas referees called about 17% fewer obstruction fouls a game than in October and November. Only 7 of 75 seasons fell off faster.

In 1997-98 it happened again, in two waves. The season opened at about 6.8 calls a game and slid to 4.4 by early January. Then the league stopped for 18 days for the Nagano Olympics. On Feb. 25, 1998, the first night back, nine games produced 77 obstruction calls, about 8.6 a game. The second half of January had averaged 4.6. The last half of February averaged 10.4 over 28 games, still the busiest half-month of 20 or more games in the files.

Across the 330 games after the break, referees called 7.1 obstruction fouls a game, against 5.1 before it, a rise of about 39%. We split each of the other 59 seasons on the same date. None rose that much after Feb. 25. That one is too big to be luck. That summer, Sports Business Daily, quoting the New York Daily News, reported that Colin Campbell’s new job would include “the continued crackdown on obstruction.” It also quoted Gary Bettman from The New York Times: “We’ll be stricter in enforcing the laws.” In the 1998 playoffs, first-round games had about 4.8 hooking, holding and interference calls a game, against 3.7 in 1997.

Half-month by half-month, the 1990s crackdowns faded and 2005-06 held

The 1990s crackdowns faded within months. The 2005-06 one barely faded

Obstruction calls (hooking, holding, interference, tripping, holding the stick) per regular-season game, both teams, by half-month

1995-96 opened at 8.2 and closed at 5.2; 1997-98 fell to 4.4 and jumped to 10.4 after the Olympic break; 2005-06 opened at 9.3 and was still at 7.7 in early April.

Oct. 1-15
8.2 calls a game
6.8 calls a game
9.3 calls a game
Oct. 16-end
7 calls a game
6 calls a game
9.4 calls a game
Nov. 1-15
6.4 calls a game
4.9 calls a game
8.8 calls a game
Nov. 16-end
6.4 calls a game
4.8 calls a game
8.3 calls a game
Dec. 1-15
6.3 calls a game
4.8 calls a game
8.8 calls a game
Dec. 16-end
5.8 calls a game
4.6 calls a game
9.3 calls a game
Jan. 1-15
5.7 calls a game
4.4 calls a game
7.9 calls a game
Jan. 16-end
6 calls a game
4.6 calls a game
8.3 calls a game
Feb. 1-15
6 calls a game
5.2 calls a game
7.8 calls a game
Feb. 16-end
5.9 calls a game
10.4 calls a game
n/a
March 1-15
5.8 calls a game
7.8 calls a game
7.7 calls a game
March 16-end
5.5 calls a game
6.3 calls a game
7.4 calls a game
April 1-15
5.2 calls a game
6.3 calls a game
7.7 calls a game
  • 1995-96
  • 1997-98
  • 2005-06
Half-months with fewer than 20 games are left blank (the Olympic breaks of February 1998 and 2006, and the end of each season). 2003-04, the season before the lockout, averaged 4.4 calls a game.

Each cluster of bars is one half-month. The 1995-96 bars shrink from October on. The 1997-98 bars shrink, then leap after the break. The 2005-06 bars, the third in each cluster, start higher than either and stay high. So 1997-98 gets two verdicts. The jump after Feb. 25 is too big to be luck. The season as a whole was only the fourth-biggest year-over-year jump, a size an ordinary year reaches about one time in 11, so the full season could be luck.

The scoresheet marked the 1990s campaign, and other big swings had none

The files also show the 1990s campaign on the scoresheet. From 1995-96 to 1999-00, scorers tagged 30% to 45% of obstruction calls with an extra word, as in “hooking-obstruction.” The tags ran until 2003-04 and vanished after the lockout. The tag only renamed the call. A hook tagged “hooking-obstruction” is still one hook in our count, so every jump we found comes from referees calling more of them.

Other big swings in the record had no campaign behind them that we know of. Roughing calls jumped by about 128 for every 100 games around 1985-86, high-sticking by about 73 around 1954-55, and holding fell by about 64 around 1990-91. Only the 2005-06 hooking jump was bigger. We found these three by hunting for the biggest swings in the record, so we have no fair way to test them for luck. Dale Hunter, who leads career roughing (425) and high-sticking (205), played through the roughing peak.

In 2005-06 hooking calls nearly tripled, and stayed high all season

The biggest crackdown came after the lost 2004-05 season. On opening night, Oct. 5, 2005, all 30 teams played. The 15 games produced 66 hooking calls, about 4.4 a game. Across 2003-04, referees had called about 1.3.

Take one defenceman, Sergei Gonchar. In 2003-04, with Washington and Boston, he was called for hooking 8 times. In 2005-06, his first season in Pittsburgh, he was called for it 25 times in 75 games, the most anyone has had in a season. The next two seasons he had 19, then 13.

The league as a whole went the same way. Hooking calls went from about 129 for every 100 games in 2003-04 to 368 in 2005-06, 2.9 times as many and the most hooking calls in any season on record. Count all five obstruction fouls together and they went from 443 to 833, nearly double. On Dec. 23, 2005, Florida and Carolina combined for 19 obstruction calls out of 26 penalties.

Run the luck check on hooking, one season against the next. None of 75 ordinary years moved it that much. The biggest of them came to about a third of the 2005-06 jump. This one is too big to be luck.

This time the referees did not back off by Christmas. “Players and coaches had heard it all before, seen referees lay down the law in October and November only to let the same infractions slide after Christmas,” Tarik El-Bashir wrote in The Washington Post in April 2006. “But this season they didn’t back off.” “Throughout the season we were expecting the calls to go down, the referees to stop calling the new rules,” said Buffalo’s Daniel Briere. “They kept it going all year.” Stephen Walkom, the NHL’s director of officiating, said: “I think we’ve done a good job of maintaining the standard throughout the season.”

The files agree with the Post. Obstruction calls ran 8.9 a game in October and November and 7.8 after Christmas. For every 100 calls a game they had made in the fall, referees were still making 88, close to a typical season’s 92. The first half of October 2005 averaged 9.3 a game. The first half of April 2006 still averaged 7.7. In 2003-04 the whole season had averaged 4.4. The 2006 playoffs held the line too: first-round games had about 6.1 hooking, holding and interference calls a game, against 3.2 in 2004, the most of any first round from 1991 to 2026. The last five first rounds ran 1.7 to 2.6.

Tripping rose too, and too much to be luck. It never came back down. Holding rose by about two thirds in 2005-06 alone, more than any ordinary year but one. Over three seasons, though, its gain could be luck. Interference rose a little, which is noise. Holding the stick went down after the crackdown, from about 37 for every 100 games to 22, a change that is suggestive but not proven. The new trapezoid, a painted area behind the net that goalies may not leave to play the puck, kept them out of the corners. It brought goalie delay calls from about 1.1 to 3.0 for every 100 games. Those are tiny numbers, and they could be luck.

Then the calls sank below where they started

Gonchar’s hooking count was down to 13 by 2007-08. The league’s fell with it. Obstruction calls ran 443 for every 100 games in 2003-04 and 833 in 2005-06. Then they went 676, 556 and 513. Half the jump was gone by 2007-08. By 2009-10, at 434, the rate was below the level of the three seasons before the lockout, and it has stayed below every season since.

Obstruction calls nearly doubled in 2005-06, then sank below the old level for good

Hooking, holding, interference, tripping and holding the stick: calls per regular-season game, both teams, 1947-48 to 2025-26

Show data
4.4 a game in 2003-04, 8.3 in 2005-06, 4.3 in 2009-10 and 3.4 in 2025-26.
SeasonObstruction calls a game
1947-483.6 calls a game
1948-493.9 calls a game
1949-504.1 calls a game
1950-514.0 calls a game
1951-524.3 calls a game
1952-534.4 calls a game
1953-545.4 calls a game
1954-555.3 calls a game
1955-564.9 calls a game
1956-575.0 calls a game
1957-585.0 calls a game
1958-594.5 calls a game
1959-604.1 calls a game
1960-614.8 calls a game
1961-625.1 calls a game
1962-635.0 calls a game
1963-645.1 calls a game
1964-655.6 calls a game
1965-665.1 calls a game
1966-674.2 calls a game
1967-684.4 calls a game
1968-694.7 calls a game
1969-705.1 calls a game
1970-714.9 calls a game
1971-724.8 calls a game
1972-734.5 calls a game
1973-744.5 calls a game
1974-755.6 calls a game
1975-765.4 calls a game
1976-774.4 calls a game
1977-784.4 calls a game
1978-794.6 calls a game
1979-804.9 calls a game
1980-816.1 calls a game
1981-825.8 calls a game
1982-835.6 calls a game
1983-846.2 calls a game
1984-855.7 calls a game
1985-866.3 calls a game
1986-875.3 calls a game
1987-887.1 calls a game
1988-896.2 calls a game
1989-905.5 calls a game
1990-915.1 calls a game
1991-925.5 calls a game
1992-935.9 calls a game
1993-945.5 calls a game
1994-954.6 calls a game
1995-966.1 calls a game
1996-974.6 calls a game
1997-985.7 calls a game
1998-995.1 calls a game
1999-004.6 calls a game
2000-014.9 calls a game
2001-024.3 calls a game
2002-035.0 calls a game
2003-044.4 calls a game
2004-05–
2005-068.3 calls a game
2006-076.8 calls a game
2007-085.6 calls a game
2008-095.1 calls a game
2009-104.3 calls a game
2010-114.0 calls a game
2011-123.6 calls a game
2012-133.8 calls a game
2013-143.8 calls a game
2014-153.6 calls a game
2015-163.7 calls a game
2016-173.5 calls a game
2017-183.4 calls a game
2018-193.5 calls a game
2019-203.6 calls a game
2020-213.4 calls a game
2021-223.4 calls a game
2022-233.7 calls a game
2023-243.6 calls a game
2024-253.2 calls a game
2025-263.4 calls a game
  • 1995-96: 1995-96 push
  • 1997-98: Nagano break
  • 2005-06: Post-lockout standard
  • Reference: Before the lockout (4.6 calls a game)
The reference line is the 2001-02 to 2003-04 average. For 2009-10 to 2015-16 the NHL’s season totals list 54 more minors and two more majors than the game files hold; the games themselves are all there. The 2004-05 season was cancelled.

The 2005-06 spike stands alone near the right of the chart, and a few years later the line drops under the dashed level from before the lockout and stays there. The NHL’s own season totals for 2009-10 to 2015-16 list 54 more minors (39 of them in 2009-10) and two more majors than our files hold, out of 71,590 penalties, too few to move this line.

Hooking took a little longer. Half its jump was gone by 2007-08. In 2010-11 it was back to about 130 for every 100 games, where it had started. From 2011-12 on it has been lower every season. Holding has been under its rate from the three seasons before the lockout since 2008-09.

Holding has gone further than that. Every season since 2009-10 has had less holding than any season from 1947-48 to 2003-04. The lowest of those old seasons was 1950-51, at about 85 calls for every 100 games. Of the 21 seasons since the lockout, 17 are below it. The four above it are 2005-06 to 2008-09.

The three seasons our test left out tell the same story. The test compared 2001-02 to 2003-04 with 2005-06 to 2007-08. The next three, 2008-09 to 2010-11, averaged about 449 obstruction calls for every 100 games, about the same as the 457 of the three seasons before the lockout: 2008-09 was still above that level, and the two seasons after it were below. Penalties as a whole have been under their level from before the lockout every season since 2007-08.

Hooking kept its slice of the calls, and tripping doubled its slice

So hooking fell, and so did nearly everything else. Now go back to the second count from the start of this story, each foul as a slice of all the calls, and run it across all 78 seasons.

Hooking and holding kept their share of the sheet. Tripping doubled its share

Share of all foul calls (infractions), regular season, 1947-48 to 2025-26

Show data
Hooking 11.2% of calls in 2003-04 and 11.7% in 2025-26; holding 8.1% and 8.5%; tripping 8.4% and 18.1%.
SeasonHookingHoldingTripping
1947-487%13%12%
1948-498%12%13%
1949-507%12%18%
1950-5111%11%16%
1951-5213%12%19%
1952-5313%13%18%
1953-5415%12%18%
1954-5514%13%19%
1955-5611%12%16%
1956-5714%12%16%
1957-5814%13%20%
1958-5912%13%17%
1959-6011%12%15%
1960-6117%15%17%
1961-6215%17%18%
1962-6316%18%13%
1963-6415%15%14%
1964-6513%13%12%
1965-6613%15%14%
1966-6712%15%12%
1967-6814%14%15%
1968-6913%15%14%
1969-7014%14%14%
1970-7113%14%13%
1971-7215%15%14%
1972-7315%12%15%
1973-7417%13%15%
1974-7516%14%16%
1975-7616%12%14%
1976-7716%11%13%
1977-7814%12%13%
1978-7914%13%11%
1979-8016%13%12%
1980-8115%13%11%
1981-8216%13%11%
1982-8316%14%11%
1983-8415%14%11%
1984-8515%14%10%
1985-8613%14%9%
1986-8711%13%8%
1987-8810%15%8%
1988-899%13%8%
1989-909%13%8%
1990-918%12%7%
1991-928%12%7%
1992-939%9%8%
1993-9410%10%7%
1994-959%9%7%
1995-9612%9%8%
1996-9710%9%7%
1997-9812%10%8%
1998-9911%9%9%
1999-0011%10%9%
2000-0110%9%10%
2001-029%9%9%
2002-0313%9%10%
2003-0411%8%8%
2004-05–––
2005-0627%11%11%
2006-0726%11%11%
2007-0821%10%11%
2008-0919%8%10%
2009-1015%8%12%
2010-1114%8%12%
2011-1213%7%13%
2012-1312%7%13%
2013-1414%9%13%
2014-1514%9%13%
2015-1614%9%14%
2016-1714%9%14%
2017-1813%8%16%
2018-1914%9%18%
2019-2013%9%19%
2020-2114%10%18%
2021-2213%8%17%
2022-2313%9%18%
2023-2412%9%19%
2024-2512%8%18%
2025-2612%9%18%
  • 2005-06: Post-lockout standard
Infractions are every penalty except misconducts, game and match ejections and penalty-shot awards. The 2004-05 season was cancelled.

Each line is one foul’s slice of all calls. Hooking spikes in 2005-06, then settles back near where it was. Holding barely moves. The dashed line is tripping. It climbed from 9% of calls before the lockout to 19% over the last three seasons, and its rate rose from about 102 to 131 for every 100 games. Holding the stick went the other way, from about 37 for every 100 games to 8. It is the one obstruction foul that faded for good.

Cross-checking had its own jump. It rose from about 30 for every 100 games in 2020-21 to 44 in 2021-22, then fell back to 33 by 2025-26. The rulebook didn’t change that season, so the jump is not in our rule tests. But in September 2021 the league told referees to call cross-checking more strictly, Scouting the Refs reported. Like slashing’s, that push faded within a few seasons.

Did players stop hooking, or did referees stop calling it? A hook nobody whistles leaves no line in the files, so the count can’t say.

Most rule changes left no mark on the scoresheet

Puck over glass in 2005 and the 2005 obstruction standard show what a rule change looks like when it moves the calls. The league has made dozens of smaller ones. We ran the same luck check on each one we could date from Scouting the Refs’ list of rule changes. We compared the three seasons before the rule with the three from it, and also the one season before with the season of the rule. Then we counted how many ordinary years, season switches with no such rule, moved the penalty at least as much. Most of the rule changes never showed up in the calls at all.

Only the 2005 changes and the brand-new penalties left a clear mark; most rules did nothing an ordinary year doesn’t. Calls per 100 regular-season games, both teams: three seasons before the rule against three seasons from it. “Ordinary years” are every other season boundary from 1947-48 to 2025-26 more than three seasons (or one, for the one-season test) from the rule. Puck over glass counts delay of game with it; obstruction is hooking, holding, interference, tripping and holding the stick.
RuleSeasonCalls per 100 gamesOrdinary years that moved as much (3 seasons)Ordinary years that moved as much (1 season)Verdict
Shooting the puck out of play becomes a minor1970-715.2 → 6.931 of 66 ordinary years (about half)52 of 74 ordinary years (most of them)Noise
A high stick that injures is a major1988-89167 → 14114 of 66 ordinary years (about one in 4)7 of 74 ordinary years (about one in 9)Noise
Checking from behind gets its own penalty1991-920.0 → 2.7none of 66 ordinary yearsnone of 74 ordinary yearsA new label: zero before, so the test only dates it
Stricter goalie interference1991-920.0 → 8.31 of 66 ordinary years (about one in 34)none of 74 ordinary yearsA new label: zero before, so the test only dates it
High-sticking lowered to the waist1992-93138 → 13453 of 66 ordinary years (most of them)21 of 74 ordinary years (about one in 3)Noise

Continues below

Rows 6–13 of 23
RuleSeasonCalls per 100 gamesOrdinary years that moved as much (3 seasons)Ordinary years that moved as much (1 season)Verdict
Holding the stick becomes a minor1992-930.0 → 48none of 66 ordinary yearsnone of 74 ordinary yearsA new label: zero before, so the test only dates it
Game misconduct for the instigator1992-9326 → 103 of 66 ordinary years (about one in 17)1 of 74 ordinary years (about one in 38)Probably real: calls fell
The 1995-96 obstruction push1995-96495 → 51644 of 66 ordinary years (most of them)2 of 74 ordinary years (about one in 25)Three seasons: noise. The one-season spike is probably real
After the lockout: obstruction, all five fouls2005-06457 → 688none of 67 ordinary yearsnone of 75 ordinary yearsReal
Puck over glass becomes automatic2005-069.4 → 36none of 67 ordinary yearsnone of 75 ordinary yearsReal, and permanent
Goalies kept inside the trapezoid2005-061.1 → 3.08 of 67 ordinary years (about one in 8)3 of 75 ordinary years (about one in 19)Could be luck: few calls
More instigator calls promised2009-104.5 → 4.127 of 66 ordinary years (about half)15 of 74 ordinary years (about one in 5)Noise
Illegal check to the head (major)2010-110.0 → 1.31 of 66 ordinary years (about one in 34)6 of 74 ordinary years (about one in 11)A new label, too few calls to say more

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Rows 14–21 of 23
RuleSeasonCalls per 100 gamesOrdinary years that moved as much (3 seasons)Ordinary years that moved as much (1 season)Verdict
Boarding widened to pushes2011-1225 → 2557 of 66 ordinary years (most of them)67 of 74 ordinary years (most of them)Noise
Puck over glass judged on the puck2016-1729 → 2836 of 66 ordinary years (about half)13 of 74 ordinary years (about one in 5)Noise
Stricter slashing2017-1859 → 817 of 66 ordinary years (about one in 8)6 of 74 ordinary years (about one in 11)Big, but within what luck can do
After the lockout: hooking2005-06129 → 299none of 67 ordinary yearsnone of 75 ordinary yearsReal
After the lockout: holding2005-0698 → 13212 of 67 ordinary years (about one in 5)1 of 75 ordinary years (about one in 38)Could be luck over three seasons; the one-season jump is too big for luck
After the lockout: interference2005-0691 → 10234 of 67 ordinary years (about half)6 of 75 ordinary years (about one in 11)Noise
After the lockout: tripping2005-06102 → 1332 of 67 ordinary years (about one in 23)none of 75 ordinary yearsReal, and it stuck
After the lockout: holding the stick2005-0637 → 224 of 67 ordinary years (about one in 14)4 of 75 ordinary years (about one in 15)Suggestive: calls fell

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Rows 22–23 of 23
RuleSeasonCalls per 100 gamesOrdinary years that moved as much (3 seasons)Ordinary years that moved as much (1 season)Verdict
Illegal check to the head (minor)2011-120.1 → 2.2none of 66 ordinary yearsnone of 74 ordinary yearsA new label, too few calls to say more
High-sticking judged on contact2025-2659 → 64 (one season)not yet60 of 75 ordinary years (most of them)Noise (one season so far)

Read across a row. The fewer ordinary years that moved the penalty as much, the less likely the change was luck. Puck over glass in 2005: none of 67 ordinary years. Boarding in 2011-12: 57 of 66 ordinary years (most of them). Of the 23 rows, the clear marks are the post-lockout standard, hooking, tripping and puck over glass in 2005-06, plus the new labels, which start from zero.

Several changes did nothing we can see. Widening boarding to include pushes in 2011-12 left calls at about 25 for every 100 games before and 25 after. That is noise. Boarding fell later, to 6.1 now, with no rule tied to the fall. Lowering the high-stick line from the shoulder to the waist in 1992-93 didn’t bring more high-sticking calls. Making a high stick that injures a major in 1988-89 didn’t either. The 2025-26 change to judge high-sticking on contact moved calls from about 59 to 64 in its first season, which is noise. The 2009-10 promise to call more instigator penalties left them flat.

Head checks get their own verdict, for a different reason. The penalty was born in 2010-11 with five majors. It was 38 calls at its peak and is 12 now. That is a new label, with too few calls to say more.

With 23 tests, one or two would pass the luck check now and then by chance alone. That is why the rows that rest on one clear jump, like the 1995-96 spike, get “probably,” not “real.”

Slashing took hooking’s place on the sheet, for a while

The last big crackdown went after slashing. In November 2016, Johnny Gaudreau of Calgary broke a finger in a game in which, Scouting the Refs reported, he “was slashed, by one count, 21 times by members of the Minnesota Wild.” The next September, Stephen Whyno of The Associated Press wrote that slashing “necessitated 791 minor penalties last season.” Our files count 789 slashing minors in 2016-17 and 791 slashing calls of every kind.

The AP traced the rise in slashing to the stricter enforcement of hooking and holding that followed the lockout. “Players started slashing in between the hands and on the hands, and the whacking became hacking,” said Walkom, still the director of officiating.

The raw counts barely show it. Slashing calls ran about 80 for every 100 games in 2003-04, 52 in 2005-06, 69 in 2007-08 and 64 in 2016-17: up from the first season after the lockout, but still below the season before it. As a share of the sheet, Walkom is right. From 2005-06 to 2016-17, slashing’s slice of all calls more than doubled, from 3.8% to 8.5%. Hooking’s slice about halved, from 26.7% to 13.7%.

In 2017-18 the referees were told to call it. “Through the first 277 games of this season, 432 slashing penalties were called versus 147 such whistles over the same stretch in 2016-17,” Josh Smith wrote at Scouting the Refs on Jan. 19, 2018. Game 277 of that season was played on Nov. 15, 2017, so his count ran through mid-November. Our files count 433 and 147 for the same stretches. Over the full season, referees called 1,249 slashing penalties, about 98 for every 100 games, up from 64.

The 2017-18 slashing crackdown wore off in four seasons

Slashing calls per 100 regular-season games, both teams, 1947-48 to 2025-26

Show data
64 per 100 games in 2016-17, 98 in 2017-18, then 73, 68, 66, 58; 65 in 2025-26.
SeasonSlashing
1947-4857 per 100 games
1948-4962 per 100 games
1949-5038 per 100 games
1950-5148 per 100 games
1951-5245 per 100 games
1952-5348 per 100 games
1953-5466 per 100 games
1954-5553 per 100 games
1955-5684 per 100 games
1956-5766 per 100 games
1957-5852 per 100 games
1958-5965 per 100 games
1959-6064 per 100 games
1960-6162 per 100 games
1961-6254 per 100 games
1962-6368 per 100 games
1963-6460 per 100 games
1964-65127 per 100 games
1965-6642 per 100 games
1966-6753 per 100 games
1967-6856 per 100 games
1968-6961 per 100 games
1969-7057 per 100 games
1970-7165 per 100 games
1971-7269 per 100 games
1972-7380 per 100 games
1973-7465 per 100 games
1974-7586 per 100 games
1975-76101 per 100 games
1976-7776 per 100 games
1977-7885 per 100 games
1978-7981 per 100 games
1979-8080 per 100 games
1980-8193 per 100 games
1981-8288 per 100 games
1982-8382 per 100 games
1983-8496 per 100 games
1984-8597 per 100 games
1985-86103 per 100 games
1986-87115 per 100 games
1987-88160 per 100 games
1988-89114 per 100 games
1989-9099 per 100 games
1990-91105 per 100 games
1991-92108 per 100 games
1992-93104 per 100 games
1993-9486 per 100 games
1994-9580 per 100 games
1995-9678 per 100 games
1996-9782 per 100 games
1997-9877 per 100 games
1998-9971 per 100 games
1999-0076 per 100 games
2000-01118 per 100 games
2001-0268 per 100 games
2002-0355 per 100 games
2003-0480 per 100 games
2004-05–
2005-0652 per 100 games
2006-0755 per 100 games
2007-0869 per 100 games
2008-0967 per 100 games
2009-1063 per 100 games
2010-1161 per 100 games
2011-1258 per 100 games
2012-1348 per 100 games
2013-1457 per 100 games
2014-1554 per 100 games
2015-1658 per 100 games
2016-1764 per 100 games
2017-1898 per 100 games
2018-1973 per 100 games
2019-2068 per 100 games
2020-2166 per 100 games
2021-2258 per 100 games
2022-2356 per 100 games
2023-2457 per 100 games
2024-2553 per 100 games
2025-2665 per 100 games
  • 2005-06: Post-lockout standard
  • 2017-18: Slashing emphasis
Slashing minors, majors and double minors. The 2004-05 season was cancelled.

The 2017-18 spike is the tall point near the right edge. It ran 73, 68, 66, 58 over the next four seasons, back to the old level by 2021-22. We call it big, but within what luck can do, because six of 74 ordinary seasons moved slashing at least as much in one year, about one in 11.

The hooker stays a hooker

Crackdowns move the count. Do they change the players who hook? Dale Hunter was called for roughing 425 times in his career and high-sticking 205, more than anyone. Coffey held. Gadsby tripped. Gonchar hooked.

We checked everyone. Split each skater’s career into two piles: his odd-numbered seasons and his even ones, with at least 150 games in each. In each pile, ask how many of his penalties were hooks, compared with a typical player who took as many penalties in the same seasons. A player who hooks more than most in one pile usually does in the other. For hooking, across 2,324 players, the match between the two piles is strong: 0.75 on a scale where 1 is a perfect match and 0 is none. Shuffle the piles between players at random and the match rarely gets past about 0.04. That is the luck line on the chart.

A player’s taste for a penalty carries from one set of seasons to the next

How closely a skater’s share of each penalty in his odd-numbered seasons matches his even-numbered seasons, 1947-48 to 2025-26 (1 = a perfect match, 0 = none)

Fighting 0.83, hooking 0.75, tripping 0.67, holding 0.63, interference 0.43; luck alone stays near 0.04.

Fighting2,171 players
0.83
Goalie interference239 players
0.81
Hooking2,324 players
0.75
Instigator110 players
0.68
Tripping2,327 players
0.67
Roughing2,287 players
0.65
Holding2,264 players
0.63
Elbowing838 players
0.55
Slashing2,144 players
0.54
Cross-checking1,693 players
0.52
Unsportsmanlike conduct694 players
0.51
Charging362 players
0.51
Holding the stick485 players
0.49
High-sticking2,223 players
0.44
Interference2,185 players
0.43
Boarding615 players
0.39
Delay of game121 players
0.24
Skaters with 150+ games in each half and at least two expected calls of that kind in each. The match is a correlation of each player’s observed-to-expected ratio between the halves; expected = his own infraction count times the league’s share of that penalty in each season. The luck line is the 95th percentile of the same match with halves shuffled between players (300 shuffles).

Every bar but one sits far past the luck line, so whatever referees do from one year to the next, the habit carries over. Fighters keep fighting (0.83), hookers keep hooking, and trippers and holders keep tripping and holding (0.67 and 0.63). Interference (0.43) and boarding (0.39) are weaker habits. Delay of game, at 0.24, is close to luck. It isn’t about position, either: comparing defencemen with defencemen and forwards with forwards leaves hooking at 0.75. One caution: odd and even seasons sit next to each other, with the same coaches, partners and referees, so this is the most a habit could be. A stricter test, the first half of a career against the second, hasn’t been run.

If players carry their habits, do teams? The 1973-74 Flyers were called for roughing 60 times in 78 games, 2.4 times the league’s rate, and for high-sticking and elbowing at about 2.1 and 2.5 times. The next season they cross-checked at 2.5 times. The 1998-99 Devils were called for holding 16 times in 82 games, about a third of the league’s rate. With about 1,500 team-seasons, a single season at twice the rate turns up by luck now and then. The Flyers did it across several fouls and seasons.

If every team were equally clean and only luck sorted them, team counts would bunch together. Instead they spread out 1.4 to 3.8 times as much as luck alone would, depending on the foul. Team habits carry over less than player habits: a team’s count one season tells you something about the next (a match of 0.30 to 0.44, against about 0.04 for luck). Too many men on the ice looks like pure luck: the spread is what chance produces, and one season says almost nothing about the next.

Crackdowns move the count for a while. The players who hook keep hooking

Fontinato’s charges and Lindsay’s spears faded over 70 years, and we found no crackdown behind either. Orr’s puck over glass stayed rare until 2005 made it automatic; it has run between 19 and 29 calls for every 100 games ever since. Tripping rose with the 2005 standard and has stayed higher too. Gonchar’s hooking tripled in 2005-06, then fell back with everyone’s. Today a hook is about 12 of every 100 calls, the same slice it was before the lockout.

Nobody has been called for spearing since Eichel

In 2017, Walkom predicted the slashers would adjust. “The players are the smartest people in the game relative to the game and they will adjust because nobody wants to sit in the penalty box,” he told the AP. “A lot of it’s reflex and habit, but the players will break old habits with a consistent enforcement.”

Four seasons later, slashing calls were back at their old level. Hooking has been among the three most-called penalties in every decade since the 1950s. The one stick foul that did vanish went with no campaign we could find. Eichel’s major on March 30, 2024, is still the last spearing call in an NHL regular-season game, 2,757 games later. The 256 playoff games since have had none either.

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Tests written down
Not in advance (exploratory)
Results computed

Every regular-season penalty in the NHL game feed (api-web play-by-play), 1917-18 to 2025-26, 108 seasons; every season’s game count equals the NHL’s list of finals. Infractions are named from 1947-48 (78 seasons, 60,755 games, 673,508 penalties). 111 raw penalty names map to stable groups (0 unmapped): obstruction-tagged names (1995-96 to 2003-04) and double minors fold into the base foul; embellishment joins diving; failed coach’s challenges stay in delay of game; the 10-minute instigator misconduct counts as a misconduct. Rates are per game, both teams. "Infractions" exclude misconducts, ejections, penalty-shot awards and the unnamed pre-1947 labels. Rule tests compare the three held seasons before a rule with the three from it (and one with one), skipping the 2004-05 lockout. The luck check (a placebo test) runs the same difference at every other season boundary more than three seasons (or one) away; p = (number as large + 1) / (boundaries + 1), so 0 of 67 gives 0.015. The holdout is the next three seasons after the test window. Crackdown spikes compare a season with the mean of its neighbours. The 1998 Olympic split uses the first game date after the longest February gap (Feb. 25) and the same calendar date in every other season.

Continues below

Player habits compare each skater’s odd and even start-year seasons (150+ games in each); team styles compare a team-season with the next and with Poisson luck.

Every test we graded (23 rule tests plus three spike tests and the Olympic split, with no formal correction; at the usual bar one or two would pass by chance. Born labels (zero before the rule) reach the smallest p possible by construction, so they date a label and test nothing. The cross-checking jump of 2021-22 (an enforcement push with no rulebook change, so not on the rule list) and the biggest swings (1954-55, 1985-86, 1990-91, found by searching the data) are not tested.)
TestResultVerdict
Coverage, 1917-18 to 1946-4730 seasons, 4,487 games, 35,124 penalties; 1.4% named; minors and majors equal the NHL totals in all 30Totals only
Coverage, 1947-48 to 2000-0154 seasons, 31,763 games, 409,090 penalties; 100% named; minors and majors equal the NHL totals in all 54; the landing feed (1977-78 to 1996-97) matches game by game in all but one gameComplete
Coverage, 2001-02 to 2016-1715 seasons, 17,940 games, 183,656 penalties; minors equal in 8 of 15, 54 short in 2009-10 to 2015-16 (39 in 2009-10); majors equal in 13, 2 shortComplete games; a few minors short

More tests below

Rows 4–7 of 36
TestResultVerdict
Coverage, 2017-18 to 2025-269 seasons, 11,052 games, 80,762 penalties; minors and majors equal the NHL totals in all 9; no penalty name changes at the source switchComplete
The Hockey News, Feb. 1994: hooking, holding, interference through 669 games of 1992-93 and 1993-94hooking 1992-93 967 vs ours 968; holding 1992-93 972 vs ours 972; interference 1992-93 834 vs ours 834; hooking 1993-94 967 vs ours 967; holding 1993-94 932 vs ours 932; interference 1993-94 610 vs ours 610Five of six exact
AP, Sept. 2017: 791 slashing minors in 2016-17Ours: 789 minors, 791 slashing calls of all kindsMatches within 2
Scouting the Refs, Jan. 2018: 432 slashing calls in the first 277 games of 2017-18, 147 in 2016-17Ours: 433 (through 2017-11-15) and 147 (through 2016-11-21)Matches within 1

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Rows 8–11 of 36
TestResultVerdict
2005-06 obstruction spike vs every other season8.3 a game; largest of 75 seasons, p 0.013Real
1995-96 obstruction spike6.1 a game; second largest, p 0.041; late/early 0.832, 8th steepest of 75Probably real; faded within the season
1997-98 spike and the Nagano splitSpike fourth, p 0.095; after/before Feb. 25 ratio 1.386, 0 of 59 other seasons as high, p 0.017, median 0.93Season could be luck; the split is real
The Post: "this season they didn’t back off" (2005-06)After Christmas / Oct.-Nov. 0.877, 24th steepest of 75 (median 0.923); April 2006 7.67 vs 2003-04 4.43Holds

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Rows 12–15 of 36
TestResultVerdict
Shooting the puck out of play becomes a minor (1970-71)5.16 → 6.88 per 100 (70 → 118 calls), p 0.478; one season 2.63 → 3.48, p 0.707; holdout 10.76Noise
A high stick that injures is a major (1988-89)166.71 → 140.83 per 100 (4201 → 3549 calls), p 0.224; one season 185.95 → 148.57, p 0.107; holdout 141.48Noise
Checking from behind gets its own penalty (1991-92)0 → 2.68 per 100 (0 → 80 calls), p 0.015; one season 0 → 3.52, p 0.013; holdout 2.03A new label: zero before, so the test only dates it
Stricter goalie interference (1991-92)0 → 8.32 per 100 (0 → 248 calls), p 0.03; one season 0 → 6.59, p 0.013; holdout 15.42A new label: zero before, so the test only dates it

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Rows 16–19 of 36
TestResultVerdict
High-sticking lowered to the waist (1992-93)137.54 → 133.81 per 100 (3521 → 3645 calls), p 0.806; one season 138.64 → 156.45, p 0.293; holdout 93.5Noise
Holding the stick becomes a minor (1992-93)0 → 48.46 per 100 (0 → 1320 calls), p 0.015; one season 0 → 62.9, p 0.013; holdout 31.96A new label: zero before, so the test only dates it
Game misconduct for the instigator (1992-93)25.98 → 9.99 per 100 (665 → 272 calls), p 0.06; one season 24.43 → 10.12, p 0.027; holdout 8.44Probably real: calls fell
The 1995-96 obstruction push (1995-96)495.34 → 516.48 per 100 (13493 → 16517 calls), p 0.672; one season 429.17 → 581.52, p 0.04; holdout 449.33Three seasons: noise. The one-season spike is probably real

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Rows 20–23 of 36
TestResultVerdict
After the lockout: obstruction, all five fouls (2005-06)457.45 → 688.29 per 100 (16880 → 25398 calls), p 0.015; one season 443.01 → 832.6, p 0.013; holdout 448.51Real
Puck over glass becomes automatic (2005-06)9.38 → 36.4 per 100 (346 → 1343 calls), p 0.015; one season 8.94 → 42.52, p 0.013; holdout 31.46Real, and permanent
Goalies kept inside the trapezoid (2005-06)1.08 → 2.95 per 100 (40 → 109 calls), p 0.132; one season 1.06 → 4.23, p 0.053; holdout 1.36Could be luck: few calls
More instigator calls promised (2009-10)4.53 → 4.09 per 100 (167 → 151 calls), p 0.418; one season 3.58 → 5.04, p 0.213; holdout 3.4Noise

Continues below

Rows 24–27 of 36
TestResultVerdict
Illegal check to the head (major) (2010-11)0 → 1.29 per 100 (0 → 41 calls), p 0.03; one season 0 → 0.41, p 0.093; holdout 2.85A new label, too few calls to say more
Boarding widened to pushes (2011-12)24.58 → 25.44 per 100 (907 → 809 calls), p 0.866; one season 27.89 → 27.32, p 0.907; holdout 14.61Noise
Puck over glass judged on the puck (2016-17)29.08 → 27.81 per 100 (1073 → 1049 calls), p 0.552; one season 30.65 → 25.93, p 0.187; holdout 27.9Noise
Stricter slashing (2017-18)58.89 → 80.6 per 100 (2173 → 2921 calls), p 0.119; one season 64.31 → 98.27, p 0.093; holdout 59.54Big, but within what luck can do

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Rows 28–31 of 36
TestResultVerdict
After the lockout: hooking (2005-06)129.08 → 299.19 per 100 (4763 → 11040 calls), p 0.015; one season 128.54 → 367.8, p 0.013; holdout 157.45Real
After the lockout: holding (2005-06)97.97 → 131.76 per 100 (3615 → 4862 calls), p 0.191; one season 93.33 → 156.67, p 0.026; holdout 79.11Could be luck over three seasons; the one-season jump is too big for luck
After the lockout: interference (2005-06)91.44 → 102.33 per 100 (3374 → 3776 calls), p 0.515; one season 89.84 → 127.97, p 0.092; holdout 87.32Noise
After the lockout: tripping (2005-06)101.92 → 133.14 per 100 (3761 → 4913 calls), p 0.044; one season 96.83 → 152.85, p 0.013; holdout 111.41Real, and it stuck

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Rows 32–35 of 36
TestResultVerdict
After the lockout: holding the stick (2005-06)37.05 → 21.87 per 100 (1367 → 807 calls), p 0.074; one season 34.47 → 27.32, p 0.066; holdout 13.22Suggestive: calls fell
Illegal check to the head (minor) (2011-12)0.14 → 2.17 per 100 (5 → 69 calls), p 0.015; one season 0.41 → 2.44, p 0.013; holdout 2.36A new label, too few calls to say more
High-sticking judged on contact (2025-26)– → – per 100 (– → – calls), p n/a; one season 59.45 → 63.57, p 0.803; holdout n/aNoise (one season so far)
Player habits (odd vs even seasons), hookingmatch 0.747 (n 2324), within position 0.746; shuffled 95th percentile 0.035Far above luck; an upper bound

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Row 36 of 36
TestResultVerdict
Team stylesdispersion 1.4 to 3.8 x Poisson; next-season r 0.299 to 0.436; too many men dispersion 0.99, r 0.086 vs 0.051; delay r 0.139 vs 0.159Real but weaker; too many men and delay are luck

Frequently asked questions

What is the most common penalty in the NHL?

Tripping. It was the most-called penalty of the 1950s and is again in the 2010s and the 2020s, at 18.2% of calls in 2020-21 to 2025-26. Hooking is second and roughing third.

When was the last spearing penalty in the NHL?

Jack Eichel of Vegas took a spearing major at Minnesota on March 30, 2024. Through the end of 2025-26 there were no regular-season spearing calls in the 2,757 games since. In 1958-59 referees called about one every six games.

When did shooting the puck over the glass become a penalty?

A 1970-71 rule made deliberately shooting the puck out of play a minor, and the game files show 42 puck-over-glass calls from 1953-54 to 1983-84, Bobby Orr’s among them. After the 2005 lockout it became automatic, without the intent test. It has run between 19 and 29 calls for every 100 games every season since 2006-07.

Did the NHL’s 2005 obstruction crackdown work?

For a season, by the count. Hooking calls went from about 129 for every 100 games in 2003-04 to 368 in 2005-06. Obstruction calls were back below their pre-lockout level by 2009-10 and have stayed there. But penalties as a whole fell about as much, so hooking and holding fill about the same share of the sheet as before.

Who has the most hooking penalties in a season?

Sergei Gonchar, with 25 for Pittsburgh in 2005-06, the first season after the lockout. He had 8 in 2003-04.

Did the 2017-18 slashing crackdown work?

Slashing calls jumped from about 64 for every 100 games to 98, then fell back to the old level by 2021-22. In six of 74 seasons with no slashing rule change, calls moved at least as much in a year, so the jump is big but within what luck can do.

More in Rules

All How Hockey Changed research

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Sources and method

  1. NHL stats (NHL.com), every season since 1917-18
  2. NHL stats API: team penalty totals (minors, majors, bench minors) by season
  3. Scouting the Refs: NHL historical rule changes
  4. Grantland, Sean McIndoe: Is the puck-over-glass rule the dumbest regulation in sports? (May 10, 2012)
  5. The Hockey News archive (Adam Proteau, Feb. 16, 2024), reprinting Steve Dryden, Feb. 18, 1994
  6. Sports Business Daily: Colin Campbell named new enforcer of NHL issues (July 21, 1998)
  7. The Washington Post, Tarik El-Bashir, via NBC News (April 21, 2006)
  8. Global News / The Associated Press, Stephen Whyno: NHL hopes stronger stand on slashing will change player behaviour (Sept. 24, 2017)
  9. Scouting the Refs, Josh Smith: Slash and burn, penalty emphasis heats up scoring (Jan. 19, 2018)
  10. Scouting the Refs, Josh Smith: NHL cross-checking crackdown explained (Sept. 24, 2021)
  11. NHL API reference (community documentation of the stats endpoints)

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