It took 13 years, but the NHL’s jersey tuck rule is back.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Trevor Zegras was assessed a two-minute minor for delay of game (equipment) at 9:51 of the second period in Thursday’s preseason game against the Boston Bruins. The NHL has told teams it will warn players this preseason when any of their equipment — neck guards, visors, helmets during warmup — is not properly worn, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. That includes jerseys, which are required to be untucked at the start of a player’s shift.

 

 

Officials have been instructed to give the player a warning on the violation, then a two-minute minor if it happens again. Zegras presumably had already been warned earlier in the game. 

Rules 9.5 and 12.1… and a since-deleted memo

Rule 9.5 requires padding be covered by a player’s jersey.

All protective equipment, except gloves, headgear, neck protection, and goalkeepers’ leg pads must be worn under the uniform. Should it be brought to the attention of the Referee that a player is wearing, for example, an elbow pad that is not covered by his jersey, he shall instruct the player to cover up the pad and a second violation by the same player would result in a minor penalty.

The call also falls under Rule 12.1 (Illegal Equipment):

All protective equipment, except gloves, headgear and goalkeepers’ leg pads must be worn under the uniform. For violation of this rule, after warning by the Referee, a minor penalty shall be imposed.

Players violating this rule shall not be permitted to participate in the game until such equipment has been corrected or removed.

The NHL clarified its interpretation of these rules with a 2013 memo that gave teams a heads up on the jersey tuck crackdown. The memo was shared online by the NHL in a tweet that was later deleted. 

Rule 9.5 governs all protective equipment, including pants. Players are not permitted to tuck their jersey into their pants in such a manner where the top padding of the pant and/or additional body protection (affixed to the pant or affixed to the Player’s body) is exposed outside the jersey. The back uniform number must not be covered or obstructed in any fashion by the protruding pads or other protective padding

NHL vice president of hockey operations Kris King noted at the time that a tuck ban had technically been on the books since 1964. “We just haven’t called it.”

Prior Tucks

The only jersey tuck penalties on record we could track down came during that 2013 crackdown:

  • Alexander Semin, Carolina: Whistled in a September 2013 preseason game against Columbus. Coach Kirk Muller said it wasn’t deliberate: “First time wearing the jerseys and the jersey flap kind of just kept popping up.”
  • Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh: Penalized November 29, 2013, at Tampa Bay – the league’s first official regular season equipment violation for a tucked sweater. Malkin had ignored repeated warnings, including from NHL Hockey Operations to the Penguins about Malkin’s ongoing violation of the rule.

After that, enforcement quietly vanished. We couldn’t find a single instance of a jersey tuck penalty after that point, making Zegras’s penalty the first jersey tuck call in roughly 13 years.

The 2013 crackdown was deeply unpopular with players. Alex Ovechkin, a career-long tucker, called it “kind of stupid,” arguing his equipment fit meant the jersey rode up no matter what. The league eventually softened the standard mid-preseason: a sweater that tucks while skating is fine as long as it was untucked at the start of the shift — the same standard Friedman described Thursday night.

The Philadelphia Flyers went on to defeat the Boston Bruins 2-0 in the game. Referees Jon McIsaac (#2) and Alex Lepkowski (#44) worked the game with linespersons Tommy Hughes (#65) and Dan Kelly (#98).

We’ll wait and see if the crackdown continues into the regular season… or if players take notice and avoid the tuck.