Offside is fixed when the puck crosses.

The controlling rule for this page

This page applies the National Hockey League Official Rules 2025-2026, principally Rule 83, “Off-side,” and Rule 38 for a Coach's Challenge after a goal. It describes NHL games, not every form of ice hockey.

As checked on 27 August 2026, the NHL's official Video Rulebook still links the 2025-26 book as its downloadable rulebook. An NHL game played under a later book should be checked against that season's edition once published. Current IIHF and USA Hockey differences are identified below rather than blended into the NHL ruling.

Puck, leading edge, then skate blades

Rule 83.1 asks one timing question: what was the position of each attacker's skate blades at the instant the puck completely crossed the leading edge of the blue line into the attacking zone? A stick, torso or helmet across the line does not decide offside.

• Onside: at least one skate blade is touching the blue line or remains on the neutral-zone side of its vertical plane when the puck crosses.
• Offside: both skate blades have completely broken that plane before the puck crosses.
• No decision yet: while any part of the puck remains over the line, the puck has not entered the attacking zone for this test.

The 2025-26 NHL text specifies that “skate” means the blade only. An airborne blade can therefore keep a player onside if it has not broken the vertical plane; physical contact with the ice is not required for this initial entry test.

The puck carrier may cross ahead of the puck

A player already controlling the puck may have both skates enter before the puck without being offside. NHL Rule 83.1 applies this exception only when the player had possession and control of the puck with the stick before both skates completely crossed the leading edge.

This is not a general exception for any “controlled entry.” A teammate still cannot precede the puck, and a player who loses control before crossing cannot rely on the puck-carrier exception. The linesperson must distinguish continued possession and control from a loose puck being pushed or deflected over the line.

Being in early can start a tag-up

Under NHL Rule 83.3, the linesperson raises the non-whistle arm when attackers have preceded the puck but the defending team can bring it out without delay or attacking contact, or the attackers are already clearing. This is a rule-prescribed delayed offside, not a general discretion to ignore the entry.

The delayed offside is nullified in either of two ways:

1. Every attacker clears the attacking zone, with skate contact at the blue line, so that at one instant no attacking player remains in the zone; or
2. The defending team passes or carries the puck into the neutral zone.

Once the linesperson lowers the arm, the attackers may re-enter onside. If the puck then comes back in while an attacker has entered early again, that return is a new offside decision. Merely skating toward the line, reaching over it with a stick or holding a skate above it does not complete a tag-up.

Attackers must withdraw, not forecheck

During a delayed offside, NHL Rule 83.3 requires a stoppage if an attacker:

• Touches the puck;
• Attempts to gain possession of a loose puck;
• Forces the defending puck carrier farther back into the defending zone; or
• Is about to make physical contact with the defending puck carrier.

An attacker does not have to win the puck or complete a body check. Pressure that removes the defender's opportunity to bring the puck out can turn the delayed signal into an offside whistle.

Leaving through the bench can clear the zone

An attacker heading to the portion of the players' bench that extends into the attacking zone is treated as clear only when both skates are off the ice and the linesperson judges the player to have left the playing surface. If the replacement enters the ice inside the attacking zone while the delayed offside remains active, that replacement must also clear before the signal can be nullified.

Jumping against the boards while remaining in the play is not the same as completing a legal change. Rule 83.1 ties this exception to the linesperson's judgment that the player has actually left the playing surface.

A defender's deliberate play can waive offside

If a defending player legally carries, passes or plays the puck back into that player's own defending zone while opponents are already there, NHL Rule 83.1 says offside is ignored and play continues. The important fact is that the defending team legally put the puck back into its own zone.

Rule 83.2 produces different results for rebounds and deflections. If a defender sends the puck out and it clearly rebounds from another defender in the neutral zone back into the defending zone, the attackers are eligible to play it. But a delayed offside applies if an attacker's stick check, body check or other contact causes that rebound. A puck deflecting from an official in the neutral zone back into the zone is also treated as offside, as is a puck propelled by the attacking team and deflected back in.

The dump-in that enters the net does not score

Under NHL Rule 83.4, if an attacking shot into the zone creates a delayed offside and that puck enters the goal, the goal is disallowed whether it goes directly in or deflects from the goaltender, another player, the boards, glass, equipment or an on-ice official. Tagging up before the puck reaches the net does not rescue that original offside shot.

The narrow exception is a genuine own goal: the goal may count if the defending team shoots or puts the puck into its own net without action or contact by the offending team. That is different from a defender merely deflecting the attacking team's offside shot.

Offside usually means a face-off, not a penalty

NHL Rule 83.6 makes the restart depend on how the offside entry arose. A carried-in offside normally produces a neutral-zone face-off outside the attacking blue line. If a shot or pass caused the offside, the face-off generally goes to the nearest spot in the zone from which it originated that gives the offending team the least territorial advantage. The same origin-based approach applies when an offside attacker pressures or is about to check the defender.

Intentional offside is a separate judgment under Rule 83.7: the player created the offside to secure a stoppage, including deliberately touching the puck during a delayed offside for that purpose. The face-off moves to an end-zone spot in the offending team's defending zone. Intentional offside is not, by itself, a minor penalty.

An NHL offside review needs a goal

A missed entry cannot be challenged merely because play continued. NHL Rules 38.2(a) and 38.9 permit an offside challenge to a play that produced a goal. The entry remains reviewable only if the puck did not leave the attacking zone between the alleged offside and the goal.

• The call changes only when the video makes a conclusive and irrefutable case that the on-ice ruling was clearly wrong; doubt leaves the call in place.
• A successful challenge disallows the goal and resets the clock to when play should have stopped. Penalties committed after that missed stoppage still must be served under Rule 38.7.
• A first unsuccessful challenge brings a two-minute delay-of-game penalty; after one or more earlier unsuccessful challenges, another failure brings a four-minute double minor under Rule 38.8.
• In the final minute of the third period and throughout overtime, the NHL Situation Room has the exclusive right to initiate this review under Rule 38.6.

There is no time limit measured in seconds from entry to goal. The decisive reset is the puck leaving the attacking zone.

Do not import the NHL skate test into youth hockey

IIHF 2026/27: Rule 83.1 uses the same vertical-plane approach for the initial entry, including an airborne skate blade that has not broken the plane. Rule 83.3 then expressly says the 3D judgment is not used to clear a delayed offside: the player must make skate contact with the blue line.

USA Hockey 2025-29: Rule 630(a) requires skate contact with the neutral zone or blue line at entry, so an airborne trail skate does not keep the player onside. Rule 630(d) provides delayed/tag-up offside only for Youth 15-Only and above, Girls 16U and above, High School and Adult classifications. At lower youth and girls' classifications, an offside entry is whistled rather than cured by tagging up.

NCAA, Canadian domestic, junior and local recreational rules are outside this page's scope. Check the rulebook and modifications appointed for the game.

The airborne trail blade

Situation: the puck completely crosses the attacking blue line while one attacker's front blade is in the zone and the back blade is airborne above the neutral-zone side of the leading-edge plane.

NHL 2025-26 ruling: onside. Rule 83.1 treats the plane vertically and judges the blades, so the airborne blade has not completely crossed. USA Hockey 2025-29: offside, because Rule 630(a) requires skate contact.

The puck carrier enters skates first

Situation: a forward has possession and control on the stick, both skates cross the leading edge, and the puck follows across a moment later. No teammate has entered early.

NHL 2025-26 ruling: onside under Rule 83.1's puck-carrier exception. The decisive fact is established possession and control before both skates crossed, not merely that the same player touched the puck last.

A tag-up chaser pressures the defender

Situation: a dump-in creates delayed offside. One attacker skates toward the blue line but curls close enough to force the defending puck carrier behind the net before every attacker has cleared.

NHL 2025-26 ruling: whistle for offside. Rule 83.3 does not require a puck touch; forcing the carrier farther back while the delay remains active is enough.

The defender carries the puck back

Situation: an attacker remains inside the zone, but a defender in the neutral zone deliberately and legally carries the puck back over the defender's own blue line.

NHL 2025-26 ruling: play on. Rule 83.1 waives offside because the defending player legally brought the puck back. If attacking contact had instead caused the puck to rebound back in, Rule 83.2 would require delayed offside.

The zone is cleared, then the dump-in rolls in

Situation: an attacking dump creates delayed offside. Every attacker tags up before the untouched puck rebounds from the end boards, hits the goaltender and crosses the goal line.

NHL 2025-26 ruling: no goal. Rule 83.4 attaches the no-goal ruling to the original offside shot; clearing before the puck enters the net does not change it.

How to analyse an NHL zone entry

1. Freeze the puck crossing. Use the instant it completely crosses the leading edge of the attacking blue line.
2. Mark every attacking blade. If one blade still touches the line or has not broken its vertical plane, that player is onside.
3. Check the carrier exception. Did a skates-first carrier already have possession and control with the stick?
4. Identify who put the puck in. A legal defending carry or pass back can waive offside; attacking deflections and pressure can produce delayed offside.
5. Track the delay. Did all attackers clear, did the defending team take the puck out, or did an attacker touch, pursue, pressure or prepare contact?
6. Choose the outcome. Play on, an origin-based face-off, a defending-zone intentional-offside face-off, or a disallowed delayed-offside goal.
7. If a goal was scored, check review eligibility. The puck must have stayed in the zone continuously from the alleged offside to the goal.

Four shortcuts that fail

• “A skate in the air is automatically offside.” Not in the NHL: the blade's relation to the vertical plane controls the entry.
• “The stick must stay behind the line.” Rule 83.1 judges skates, although stick control matters for the puck-carrier exception.
• “The raised arm means play is already dead.” It signals delayed offside; the defenders may play out while attackers clear.
• “Any missed offside can be reviewed.” NHL offside review is tied to a goal, and a later zone exit cuts off review of the earlier entry.

Governing-body sources and versions

• National Hockey League — Official Rules 2025-2026, Rules 38 and 83
• National Hockey League — Video Rulebook: Off-Side, Rule 83 examples
• International Ice Hockey Federation — Official Rule Book 2026/27, version 1.0 (June 2026), Rule 83
• USA Hockey — Official Rules of Ice Hockey 2025-29, Rule 630

Checked 27 August 2026 against the latest NHL rulebook linked from the league's official Video Rulebook, plus the current IIHF and USA Hockey books for the two identified variations. NHL Rule 83 controls the worked rulings. League, tournament, age-class and local regulations may replace or supplement these baselines.