- Trevor Zegras was called for a two-minute minor for having his jersey tucked into his pants
- It’s the first penalty of its kind the NHL has called in 13 years
- Read below for how the league’s new equipment crackdown actually works
Trevor Zegras just found out the NHL wasn’t bluffing.
The Flyers center was assessed a two-minute minor for “improperly wearing equipment” at 9:51 of the second period in Thursday’s preseason game against the Bruins. Zegras started his shift with his jersey tucked into his pants, and the officials sent him straight to the box.
Watch the penalty go down:
It’s the first time in 13 years the league has actually called this, according to Scouting The Refs. The rule has technically been on the books since 1964. Nobody enforced it until a 2013 memo warned teams a crackdown was coming, and even that mostly faded once the outrage died down.
NHL vice president of hockey operations Kris King addressed the rule back when that memo went out, and he made clear it wasn’t some new invention.
“We just haven’t called it,” King said.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman laid out how the league is handling it this time around. He said officials have been told to warn players first if their neck guards, visors or helmets aren’t worn properly during warmups, with jerseys required to be untucked at the start of a shift:
A second violation in the same game bumps the call up to a misconduct. Officials had reportedly already warned Zegras earlier in the game, which is why this one stuck.
The penalty didn’t cost Philadelphia anything on the scoreboard. Boston’s power play came up empty.
Zegras is playing his first full season as the Flyers’ top center after the trade from Anaheim, and this preseason has already shown him how differently things get called in Philadelphia.
Gino Hard put the moment up for a vote:
Judging by the replies, most fans think the league picked a strange hill to die on.
