GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
How do NHL blue-line entry and delayed offside affect a later goal?
For an NHL zone entry, an attacking player is offside when both skate blades are completely beyond the blue line before the puck fully crosses it, subject to the puck-carrier control exception. A delayed offside can be nullified when all attackers clear together or the defending team carries or passes the puck into the neutral zone. But a goal from the original shot that created the delayed offside remains disallowed even if attackers clear first; a defending-team own goal without attacking-team action or contact is the stated exception.
For Hockey viewers trying to follow an entry at the attacking blue line. · Updated
Use skate position when the puck enters
Rule 83.1 uses the players’ skate blades, not their sticks, to determine position. An attacker is offside when both skates are completely beyond the leading edge of the attacking blue line as the puck completely crosses that edge. If either skate touches the line or remains on the player’s own side when the puck crosses, the player is on-side.
The rule also treats a puck-carrier differently: a player may cross ahead of the puck if they had possession and control with the stick before the trailing skate completely crossed the line and keep possession and control after the puck enters the attacking zone. Without both parts of that exception, use the ordinary skate-and-puck test.
How a delayed offside clears
When an attacking player precedes the puck into the zone but the defending team can bring it out without delay or attacker contact, or attackers are clearing, the linesperson may hold the offside call. The call is nullified when all attackers clear the zone at the same instant, with skate contact on the blue line, or when the defending team passes or carries the puck into the neutral zone. The attacking team can then re-enter legally.
A delayed call does not let an attacker interfere with the clearance. If an attacker touches the puck, tries to gain a loose puck, forces the defending puck carrier farther back into the zone, or is about to make physical contact with that carrier, play is stopped for offside.
The original shot and an own-goal exception
Rule 83.4 treats the original shot that created the delayed offside as offside. If that shot later enters the defending goal, the goal is disallowed even when attackers cleared before the puck arrived, and even if the puck went off the goalkeeper, a player, the boards, glass, equipment, or an on-ice official.
The narrow exception is a puck the defending team shoots or puts into its own net without action or contact by the offending attacking team. The exception is about how the puck entered the goal; it does not change the blue-line test or make the original attacking shot legal.
Edition and scope
This explanation follows the NHL 2026–2027 Official Rules linked from the NHL FAQ checked October 15, 2026. The cited materials do not show a separate rule-by-rule effective date or amendment log, so this page does not infer one or extend the rule to another league.
Two hypothetical delayed-offside sequences
In one hypothetical sequence, an attacking skater is already beyond the blue line when the puck crosses, so the linesperson holds an arm for delayed offside. All attackers clear together and the arm comes down, but the puck from the original shot then enters the goal; Rule 83.4 still disallows that goal. In a separate hypothetical sequence, a defender sends the puck into the defender’s own net without any attacking player causing an action or contact; that is the stated own-goal exception. For the entry test, a puck carrier crossing ahead is on-side only if stick possession and control began before the trailing skate fully crossed and continued after the puck entered.
Related questions
Does clearing the zone make the original delayed-offside shot count as a goal?
No. If the original shot that created the delayed offside enters the defending goal, Rule 83.4 says the goal is disallowed even if attackers cleared first.
Can the puck carrier enter the zone before the puck?
Yes, if the player had possession and control before the trailing skate fully crossed the blue line and maintains possession and control after the puck enters the attacking zone.
What ends a delayed offside without a whistle?
All attacking players clear the zone at the same instant, with skate contact on the blue line, or the defending team passes or carries the puck into the neutral zone.