Campbell: Spin-o-rama move monitored closely

The "spin-o-rama" can be a highly effective but difficult to execute move in a shootout or on a penalty shot.

It also elicits plenty of reaction, and Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell said the League closely monitors the situation whenever the move is attempted.

According to the NHL Rulebook, "The spin-o-rama type move where the player completes a 360-degree turn as he approaches the goal, shall be permitted as this involves continuous motion. However, should the puck come to a complete stop at any time during the shot attempt, the shot shall be stopped and no goal will be the result."

Mason Raymond of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored in the shootout Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators with the move. Raymond has used the maneuver during his career on multiple occasions. Saturday night, it was ruled a goal on the ice, and the Hockey Operations department in Toronto saw no reason to disallow it, said Campbell.

Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean disputed the validity of the move after the game.

"If the puck stops, or if the player's momentum stops, and particularly reverses, then there's an issue," Campbell said. "The problem is if you're skating forward, you can pull the puck back, or stickhandle, and that will stop [the puck] at times, or a curl-and-drag sometimes will stop it. There is some confusion and misinterpretation."

During their March meeting, the general managers recommended the spin-o-rama move no longer be allowed during the shootout or on penalty-shot attempts. The NHL Board of Governors approved the recommendation and the players on the Competition Committee decided to leave it to a vote of the executive committee of the NHL Players' Association. The vote did not pass.

"We've had this discussion at the general managers' meetings on a couple of occasions," Campbell said. "There wasn't a lot of appetite for spin-o-ramas.

"When you spin around and put your butt into the goaltender or if you go [into] the crease, you are dangerously close to being called for goaltender interference; particularly if you do make contact with the goalie in his crease, it would be disallowed."

With the ability to perform the move still in place, Campbell let teams know that Hockey Operations would be inspecting all spin-o-rama attempts, a point he made during a call with the League's general managers and coaches on Sept. 30, the day before the start of the 2013-14 regular season.

"What I said to the managers on our call, to managers and coaches, to make sure to inform the players that if they do try this move that we will be examining it closely and they could very well have a goal taken back," Campbell said. "It could happen if 1) there is interference on the goaltender or 2) the puck stops completely or 3) their motion stops completely and/or reverses."