You can pass the puck to a teammate, but you can’t pass a stick.
Nashville’s Filip Forsberg was reminded of that rule the hard way when he was penalized for passing a stick to teammate Roman Josi. Forsberg used his stick to push Josi’s twig along the ice to its rightful owner in the defensive zone.
@ArponBasu but it was so discreet~ pic.twitter.com/P6TBpSYZXX
— steph (@myregularface) April 29, 2017
From 10.3:
A player will be penalized if he throws, tosses, slides or shoots a stick to a teammate on the ice, or if he picks up and plays with an opponent’s stick. A minor penalty shall be imposed for an infraction
of this rule.
The only legal way to get a replacement stick is to pick one up off the ice, get one from the bench, or have it handed to you by a teammate on the ice.
The same rule applies to goaltenders, per 10.4:
A goalkeeper may continue to play with a broken stick until a stoppage of play or until he has one legally handed to him by a teammate. The teammate must hand the stick to him. He cannot throw it or slide it to the goalkeeper (this includes situations where the goalkeeper has lost his stick and a teammate is
trying to return it to him).
When it comes to broken sticks discarded on the ice, the rules are clear. You can clear out a broken one as long as you don’t send it towards a player or the puck. According to 53.1:
A minor penalty shall be imposed on any player on the ice who throws his stick or any part thereof or any other object in the direction of the puck or an opponent in any zone, except when such act has been penalized by the assessment of a penalty shot or the awarding of a goal.
When the player discards the broken portion of a stick or some other object by tossing it or shooting it to the side of the ice (and not over the boards) in such a way as will not interfere with play or opposing player, no penalty will be imposed for so doing. When moving a stick that is not broken, no penalty shall be assessed as long as it does not interfere with the play and the player who lost said stick is not attempting to retrieve it, otherwise an interference penalty must be assessed.
Forsberg was trying to be helpful — even keeping it much simpler and safer than Sidney Crosby’s elaborate-but-also-illegal stick flip. Unfortunately, you can’t do that.
