Few moments in hockey are as exciting as a penalty shot.
A player is fouled from behind on a breakaway, the official blows his whistle and points — sometimes dramatically — to the center dot.
A penalty shot is awarded.
It's happened twice to the Nashville Predators this season. Jack Drury was awarded one against Vegas on Oct. 13 — he missed. Jonathan Marchessault was awarded one against St. Louis on Oct. 18 — he scored. Already, the Predators have seen more penalty shots this season than they've had in the last two seasons combined.
But maybe there's a new way to think about penalty shots.
Penalty shot success rate across the league typically hovers around 22%. Last season, it dipped to 18% with only six out of 33 awarded penalty shots resulting in goals. Penalty shot success rate is always lower than shootout success rate (usually around 30%) for obvious reasons: Coaches can select which players participate in the shootout. They can't for penalty shots.
But penalty shot success rate is also lower than many teams' power play success rates. An average power play scores around 20% of the time, but plenty of teams — usually the good ones, like Edmonton, Carolina, Dallas, and Vegas — score at least 24% of the time.
A tweak to the penalty shot rules seems in order.
Two rule change proposals for NHL penalty shots
To be clear, the NHL does not have any current rule changes on the table for penalty shots. The last rule change came in 2014, when they disallowed the "spin-o-rama" move, where a player makes a 360-degree turn with the puck. But The Tennessean has come up with potential rule changes.
First, and this one seems obvious: Coaches should be allowed to select any player to take the penalty shot. No one wants to see a stone-handed player forced to take a penalty shot. Let the team's best shooter go.
The second change is more substantial. When a penalty shot is awarded, the non-offending team's coach should be able to choose: Either take the penalty shot or be awarded a two-minute minor.
Like penalty shots, power plays are exciting, even if they don't always result in a goal. For two minutes (or more) there's action mostly in one end with an increased chance at a goal being scored. Instead of a brief 1-on-1, you get two minutes of action.
A penalty shot? One chance, one shot, one save or goal.
A power play? Two minutes that actually looks like hockey.
Nashville Predators weigh in on rule change proposal
When asked about this proposed penalty shot change, Predators players were mostly in agreement.
"If it's a game management thing, like at the end of a game, I wouldn't mind having the option," Steven Stamkos told The Tennessean on Oct. 19. "But I also wouldn't want to be the guy telling a player who just got taken down we weren't giving him the penalty shot."
Marchy just walks it in 🤩 pic.twitter.com/cN5f4t5FOs
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) October 18, 2026
Most players would prefer the penalty shot, but it might be more advantageous to opt for a power play, depending on the game situation. If you're holding a lead at the end of regulation, a power play might effectively end the game. In overtime, you might prefer 4-on-3 for two minutes over a one-shot chance. In the case when Marchessault was awarded a penalty shot against the Blues, the Predators were on the power play — this rule change could have given them a two-man advantage.
"I think it would be good rule," Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. "I still believe that when you get a penalty shot, it should be anybody that can take it, not just the one who got fouled. That would be a good starting point."
Coaches are paid to manage games, which is why they'd be the ones making the decisions. Players aren't always considering the larger picture.
"I think it'd be good to have the choice, but yeah, I'd probably just pick the penalty shot if it were up to me," Roman Josi said.
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Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com, follow him on X at@alexdaugherty1 or check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Should NHL change its penalty shot rules? Nashville Predators weigh in