Why doesn't the league allow an injured player to be replaced during the game ?

I don't see a reason to try it. I Googled the GM meetings to see if there was something I missed but there is nothing in a topic remotely addressing this issue. Was there just some high profile injury of a key player during a game that may or may not cost his team a playoff spot?

I'm just wondering why some fans think this is an issue?

I don’t think it’s an issue, I just think it’s a good idea. There’s no negatives to it as far as I could see.

There was a Flames game earlier this season (I honestly have no idea which one) where they were down to 4 defensemen by the end of it. It would’ve been nice to be able to sub in a guy and take some pressure off the 4 guys still playing.

Obviously it’s not necessary, it would just be a nice thing to have.
 
The adverse effect is not the same at all, in hockey terms a red card means you are on the PK for the rest of the match unless the other team gets red too.

As for the topic, I don't see the point, plenty of teams have won when playing with 5D and playing with 11F is barely even an obstacle. Sure, it's bad when your star gets injured early but the player who is not good enough to crack the line-up isn't going to do all that much in the place of said star anyway.
I mean sure it was a bit of an overexageration but it still feels like a hinderance to a team that can be avoided by expanding the roster to allow for injury replacements. I can't think of one reason why not to other than tradition.
 
Just thought of another weird scenario.

Say your team is losing badly. So you bring out your goon to goon it up, except instead of having to ice a goon the whole game and risk a loss, you just bing him in later out of spite.
 
That’s not a big deal imo. In fairness we are talking about the 7th or 8th dman and 13th or 14th forward in the system

Not exactly game changers.

Being down to 5 dmen is rough on any team. If the change was made for dmen only I’d be fine with it if the league went that route.
thats why i liked having brian boyle in tampa. if a dman got hurt he would switch to dman.
 
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This is tough. Could get manipulated real fast.

Say your #6 defenseman or a 4th line forward is having a terrible game to the point where he’s benched. Why wouldn’t a team just say he’s hurt to replace him?

You have a 1 or 2 goal lead in the third? Time to scratch that young offensive player in favour of the safer grinder. Exactly what the league needs...
 
Wowee this is dumb. Hockey IS already the ONLY team sport I'm aware of that actually lets you do what you're proposing (goalie).

Hey guys I just had the most obvious idea that will solve all this crap. Why don't we just outlaw injuries??? Allowing people to get injured is immoral anyway. It was okay like in the 90s, sure, but we've evolved since then. No more injuries allowed!
 
The NHL would have to employ neutral doctors to attend games to rule players unfit to play during the intermissions or else this will be abused to basically dress 23 skaters or whatever the roster limit may be if it increases.

20 players is enough to deal with a few injuries in a game. Injuries are one of the reasons so many players are dressed to begin with.
 
Most of the guys that are healthy scratches probably wouldn't benefit the team that much by being subbed in to play 4 shifts the rest of the game, but it'd be fun to see guys like Dalton Prout sitting in the press box eating nachos in full equipment.
 
What?? All these sports have extras

The extras are allowed to be substituted injuries or not
this sport has extras too. In the NBA if you get injured, your bench shortens. You don't get to use someone that wasn't dressed to be on the bench. Might as well have a good player stay fresh and then have him come in when someone gets "injured" in the dying minutes of a tie game.
 
What?? All these sports have extras

The extras are allowed to be substituted injuries or not

In football, it would be taking a player off the inactive list and put him on the field. Say a team loses 2 QBs, and the 3rd is on the inactive list. You suddenly cant just activate him mid game. I believe thats what the OP is getting at.
I would be against anything like that in hockey. Teams would fake injuries if they didn’t like how player X is playing. Being allowed to put a guy in off the scratched list would be dumb
 
No other sports allow you to bring in a player that wasn't on the active roster at the start of the game for an injured player. Where are you getting this from?
 
No other sports allow you to bring in a player that wasn't on the active roster at the start of the game for an injured player. Where are you getting this from?

The point is

All these other sports have "extra" players sitting around... basketball plays 10 maybe 12 guys in a game. But still have 2 guys cheerleading from the bench

In hockey all 4 lines and 3 d lines play throughout the game

What extra guy ?
 
The point is

All these other sports have "extra" players sitting around... basketball plays 10 maybe 12 guys in a game. But still have 2 guys cheerleading from the bench

In hockey all 4 lines and 3 d lines play throughout the game

What extra guy ?

There's no rule that all 4 lines and all 3 d pairs play throughout the game. You could have your 18th skater sit in the locker room in his jeans for the first 2 periods and tell him to put his skates on for the 3rd. Nobody does that, because that's stupid.

Basketball has 15 players on the active roster, 12 of them are dressed for the game, 3 of them are in street clothes and can not enter the game just like the 3 scratches in Hockey.
 
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23 man rosters, most teams have 3 guys up in the pressbox that are "healthy scratches"

Wouldn't require them to get dressed, but it's not inconceivable that if a player got injured, one of the players up in the pressbox could come down and get dressed for the following period.

To prevent it from being abused the "injured" player being substituted for would have to sit out at least one game if they're replaced in the second period, two games if they're replaced in the third. In which case many teams may forego the replacement anyway....
 

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