# Hockey offsides question **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** hockey-nhl\ **Created:** [June 2, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563 "2026-06-02T14:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/1 "2026-06-02T14:09:46Z")
I hope I can ask this in an understandable way. My understanding of offsides is when a skater crosses the opposing blueline before the puck, correct? So, lets say the Hurricanes are in the Knights zone. A player on the Knights is able to get the puck and tries to pass it to a teammate, near the blue line. However, the pass is stopped by one of the Canes defensemen, who is on the blue line. Are the Canes now offsides since some of the players are still in the Knights zone? Or, does the Canes defenseman need to carry the puck across the blueline before he passes it to a forward? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/2 "2026-06-02T15:01:47Z")
If the puck didn’t leave the zone, then a change of possession is not offsides. As long as the Canes defensemen stopped it before it crossed the blue line into center ice, there is no call. If the puck did cross the blue line into center ice, then the Canes defenseman must wait until all other Canes players are back across the blue before carrying it over or passing it to a teammate in the offensive zone. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/3 "2026-06-02T15:41:19Z")
Great answer. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/4 "2026-06-02T16:19:16Z")
The line belongs to the zone the puck is in. If the puck is in the offensive zone, being on the line does not make it offside. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/5 "2026-06-02T16:35:42Z")
Yup, good point. It’s _crossing_ the line that matters, not touching the line. And similarly, a player isn’t offside as long as some part of them hasn’t crossed the line. You’ll see players almost entirely over the line just dragging a skate behind them, and they aren’t offsides. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/6 "2026-06-02T16:37:14Z")
That’s true! It never occurred to me, but yeah, the puck has to be completely over the blue line into the offensive zone (for the attacking team) to avoid offside, and has to go completely out of the defensive zone (for the team trying to clear) in order to force the attacking team out. O/T, I guess – are their any other lines in sports that have that dual purpose? Maybe the midline in tennis, which is in for serves from either side? ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/7 "2026-06-02T19:18:34Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > If the puck did cross the blue line into center ice, then the Canes defenseman must wait until all other Canes players are back across the blue before carrying it over or passing it to a teammate in the offensive zone. The Canes defenseman can also shoot it back into the offensive zone with their players still in it, however all those players must exit the zone (tag up) before they can come back and play the puck. IMO, the NHL has done a pretty good job with rule changes, opening the game up to offense, and making the game flow better without stoppages. Like the two-line offside was eliminated and the shoot-in rule I mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/8 "2026-06-04T08:54:03Z")
With question answered I was going to be a smart arse and say that in (field) hockey there is no offside, and hasn’t been since 1997. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/9 "2026-06-04T12:04:18Z")
Is that the only game of that style (field, court, or ice, two goals, goalies) where there’s no offsides rule? Can you be offsides in polo or water polo? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/10 "2026-06-04T12:16:28Z")
There is an off-side rule in water polo. There is an offside in polo, but it’s not the really the equivalent. There is off side in lacrosse, but it’s more about player numbers in attack or defense of a single team rather than relation between attackers & defenders on opposing teams And of course, there is no offside in basketball. There is offside in shinty. There is no offside in hurling. There is a sort-of offside in Gaelic football. There is no offside in Australian football. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/11 "2026-06-04T12:23:47Z")
I’ve never heard of shinty! I’m surprised there’s no offsides in Australian football – it sort of reminds me of rugby and sort of reminds me of American football, and each has an offsides rule. I know of hurling, but no nothing about it – is there a goalie? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/12 "2026-06-04T12:35:29Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > And of course, there is no offside in basketball. No, but there is the 8 second rule. And over and back. While not technically ‘offside’, they do determine where the play happens. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/13 "2026-06-04T12:42:53Z")
Shinty, hurling and Gaelic football have goalkeepers. Australian football does not. Not really sure of why you consider there are many similarities between Aussie Rules and rugby (league or union) and American football. The primary means of moving the football in AF is by kicking it. It would happen several hundred times each game. Conversely kicking the football in rugby & gridiron is curiously enough a specialty skill. The football is primarily moved by hand. Also, at no stage of a game of Australian football are the all players of opposing teams on opposite sides of some demarcation line. Vive le difference ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/14 "2026-06-04T12:49:12Z")
Thanks! I’ve watched almost no Aussie football. We don’t get it much in the States. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/15 "2026-06-04T12:55:04Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Yup, good point. It’s _crossing_ the line that matters, not touching the line. And similarly, a player isn’t offside as long as some part of them hasn’t crossed the line. You’ll see players almost entirely over the line just dragging a skate behind them, and they aren’t offsides. There’s also the “possession with control” rule. If an attacking player is stick-handling the puck with full control, they cannot be called offside. They can skate backward or slide into the offensive zone before the puck does, as long as they are maintaining possession. The “possession with control” rule was invoked in a different and very dubious (IMHO) context when Brett Hull scored the winning goal for the Dallas Stars against the Buffalo Sabres in the third overtime of Game 6 in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals. At that time, the “crease rule”, since rescinded, was still in effect, and it stated that a goal was invalid if any part of the player’s body was within the crease in front of the net. One of Hull’s skates was completely within the crease and clearly visible on video replays. But the Stars had already started their Stanley Cup win celebration and a “no goal” was never declared. Later on, NHL officials apparently tried to retroactively justify this by stating that since Hull had “possession and control” of the puck, the crease rule didn’t apply. The ruling became incredibly controversial and my view is that it was bullshit. Whether you agreed with the crease rule or not, its purpose was to protect the goalie against potential injury by being aggressively rammed by an opposing player trying to score a goal. “Possession and control” of the puck has nothing to do with this intent. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/16 "2026-06-04T13:19:57Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > game of that style I should also add netball to that classification which has both offside and goalkeepers. Though netball goalkeepers are allowed no additional skills like the goalkeepers in the other sports listed. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-offsides-question/1030563/17 "2026-06-04T16:45:24Z")
Bandy, which is like soccer played on ice, uses soccer offside rules.