Offside in hockey: the NHL rule, delayed offside and icing explained

In hockey, a player is offside when both of his skates are completely over the opponent's blue line before the puck crosses it. Icing is the other whistle that stops play most often: a team shoots the puck from its own half all the way past the other team's goal line. Here is how both rules work in the NHL, based on the league's 2025-26 Official Rules, with delayed offside, the coach's challenge, hybrid icing and what each call means if you follow or bet on games.

Offside and icing at a glance

What is offside in hockey?

Rule 83.1 says it plainly: players of the attacking team must not precede the puck into the attacking zone. The blue line is the border. If an attacker is already inside the zone when the puck crosses the line, the linesperson calls offside and play stops.

Rule 83 is about the attacking zone only. There is no offside at the centre red line, so a team can make a long pass from its own zone to a player waiting at the far blue line.

How the blue line decides it

Three details settle almost every close call:

• Skates, not the stick. A player is offside when both skates are completely over the leading edge of the blue line. Where his stick is does not matter.
• One skate is enough to stay onside. If either skate is touching the blue line, or is still on the neutral zone side of it, the player is onside. A skate in the air counts as onside as long as it has not broken the plane of the line.
• The puck must cross completely. The moment that counts is when the whole puck has crossed the leading edge of the blue line.

There is one exception. A player who has possession and control of the puck before his skates cross the line is not offside, even if his skates end up ahead of the puck. That is why a forward who carries the puck across while turning or reaching back is fine.

Delayed offside and tagging up

If an attacker is offside but no attacking player touches the puck, the linesperson raises an arm instead of blowing the whistle. That is a delayed offside (Rule 83.3). The attacking team then has to clear the zone: every attacker leaves the offensive zone and touches the blue line, which fans call tagging up. Once they have all cleared, the linesperson drops the arm and the attack can come back in.

The arm also comes down if the defending team carries or passes the puck out into the neutral zone. Play is stopped if, during the delayed offside, an attacker touches the puck, goes after it, or forces the defender carrying it back into his own zone.

Intentional offside

An offside made on purpose to get a stoppage is an intentional offside (Rule 83.7). It also applies when an attacker deliberately touches the puck during a delayed offside to stop play. The cost is territory: the face-off goes all the way back to the offending team's own end zone.

Where the face-off goes after offside

Rule 83.6 sets the spot:

• Puck carried over the line: the face-off is in the neutral zone, at the dot nearest the zone the offending team was entering.
• Puck passed or shot in: the face-off goes back to the zone where the pass or shot came from, at the spot that gives the offending team the least territorial advantage.
• Intentional offside: the face-off is at an end zone dot in the offending team's defending zone.

Offside reviews and the coach's challenge

A goal can be called back for offside after it is scored. Under Rule 38, the defending team's coach can challenge a goal on the grounds that an attacker entered the zone ahead of the puck. The NHL Situation Room reviews the play, and the goal is disallowed if the review confirms the offside. The review only reaches back if the puck did not come out of the attacking zone between the offside entry and the goal.

A challenge has a price. The first unsuccessful challenge costs the team a two-minute minor penalty for delaying the game. If the team has already lost one or more challenges, the next failed one is a four-minute double minor.

What is icing?

Icing (dégagement refusé in Quebec) is Rule 81. It happens when a team that is at even strength or on the power play shoots, bats or deflects the puck from its own half of the ice, and the puck crosses the opposing goal line without being touched. The centre red line divides the halves. To avoid icing, the team must gain the line: the puck must be on a player's stick when it reaches the red line.

Hybrid icing: the race to the dots

The NHL has used hybrid icing since the 2013-14 season. The linesperson first judges whether the puck will cross the goal line. If a race for the puck follows, he decides which player would touch it first, and he must decide by the time the first player reaches the end zone face-off dots. If the defender wins the race, icing is called. If the attacker wins it, play goes on. If the race is too close to call, icing is called.

When icing is not called

• The team is shorthanded. A team below the opponent's strength can shoot the puck down the ice on the penalty kill without icing being called.
• An opponent touches the puck before it crosses the goal line, including a deflection off an opponent in the shooter's own half.
• The goaltender plays the puck, or makes a move to play it.
• The puck comes straight off a face-off and travels the length of the ice.

What happens after icing

Icing is costly for a tired team. Under Rule 81.4, the team that iced the puck cannot change players before the next face-off, except to replace an injured player, to return a goalie pulled for an extra attacker, or when a penalty changes the number of players. The NHL added this no-change rule before the 2005-06 season. Rule 87.1 also bars the defensive team from calling its time-out after an icing.

The face-off then goes to the end zone of the team that iced it, and the attacking team chooses which of the two dots is used. So the same tired players have to defend a face-off in their own zone.

Offside, icing and your bets

Neither call changes how a market is settled, but both change the game you are betting on:

• Goals can disappear. A goal on the scoreboard is not final while a coach can still challenge it for offside. If you bet live (paris en direct), the price can swing back after a review. Our guide to live betting during hockey games explains how in-play odds react to goals.
• Icing traps tired lines. No change and a face-off in their own zone is where many late goals come from. That matters for period totals and late puck line bets.
• Challenges can mean a power play. A failed challenge gives the other team a power play, which can move the live totals line.

In Quebec, Mise-o-jeu is Loto-Québec's legal sports betting platform; our Mise-o-jeu hockey guide explains how NHL bets work there. Set a deposit limit and only bet what you can afford to lose.

Offside and icing are not the only calls that swing a game; our guide to body checking in hockey covers which hits draw a minor, a major or a match penalty.

Sources

• National Hockey League, Official Rules 2025-2026: Rule 38 (coach's challenge, 38.8 and 38.9), Rule 81 (icing, 81.1 to 81.6), Rule 83 (off-side, 83.1, 83.3, 83.6, 83.7), Rule 87.1 (time-outs).
• Wikipedia, "Icing (ice hockey)" (hybrid icing from 2013-14, no line change from 2005-06).