GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
When does an NHL hand pass stop play?
Rule 79.1 permits a player to stop or bat an airborne puck with an open hand or push it along the ice. Play is stopped only when the on-ice officials judge that the player directed it to a teammate or allowed the team to gain an advantage, and a player of that team then obtains possession and control. An inadvertent hand deflection is not a violation. In a team’s own defending zone, Rule 79.2 says play is not stopped for a hand pass; the puck’s location when touched by the passer or receiver determines its zone.
For Hockey fans trying to understand why one hand contact is allowed while another stops play. · Updated
Rule 79 covers an open-hand stop, bat or push
The rule addresses a player using an open hand to stop a puck in the air, bat it, or push it along the ice. A hand touching the puck does not by itself require a whistle. If officials judge the contact was an inadvertent deflection, Rule 79.1 says it is not a violation.
A hand pass needs the stated teammate-control condition
Outside the defending-zone exception, officials must judge that the player directed the puck to a teammate or allowed the team to gain an advantage, and a player of that team subsequently obtains possession and control. That possession may happen directly or after the puck is deflected off another player or an official. Both the officials’ judgment and the later possession-and-control condition matter; the rule does not turn every hand contact into an automatic stoppage.
The defending-zone exception follows the puck’s location
Rule 79.2 says play is not stopped for a hand pass by players in their own defending zone. To determine the puck’s zone, Rule 79.2 looks to the location of the puck when contacted by the player making the hand pass or the player receiving it. This is a puck-location test, not simply a description of where a player’s skates are. Rule 79.1 directs closing a hand on the puck to the separate handling-puck rule, Rule 67.
One hand contact in the defending zone and one outside it
In a fictional play, a skater uses an open hand to stop the puck while it is in that team’s own defending zone, and a teammate then plays it. Rule 79.2 says play is not stopped for that hand pass. In a separate neutral-zone sequence, a skater pushes the puck with an open hand toward a teammate, who gains possession and control. If the officials judge the puck was directed to the teammate or the team gained an advantage, Rule 79.1’s stoppage condition is met. For either sequence, the rule determines zone from the puck’s location when the passer or receiver contacts it. These are hypothetical examples, not rulings on real plays.
Related questions
Does every hand touch stop play?
No. The rule permits an open-hand stop, bat or push, and an inadvertent hand deflection is not a violation. Outside the defending zone, the officials’ judgment and the teammate possession-and-control condition determine whether the play is stopped.
Does the defending-zone exception depend on where the players are standing?
The rule uses the puck’s location when contacted by the player making or receiving the hand pass to determine the zone.
Is closing a hand on the puck covered by the hand-pass rule?
Rule 79.1 refers violations for closing a hand on the puck to Rule 67, Handling Puck. It is a separate rule question.