tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
Because now the goalie coming in gets a warm up. Whatever that is. Probably a five minute break to shoot pucks on the cold goalie.
Gives the team a chance to rest their top guys
Sure, but there’s nothing stopping the goalie from faking an injury and getting an extended stoppage. If that was a thing, it would happen all the time regardless of the warmup rule.
They don’t do it because it forces them out of the game, the referees will absolutely retaliate if they think they’re being abused, and it’s just lame behavior that doesn’t really make sense in a hockey context. Fatigue hurts the defense far more than the offense.