Key takeaways
- To judge a penalty's real cost, ask three questions: is my team short-handed, for how long at most, and does a goal against end it?
- A minor costs at most two minutes and ends early if the other team scores; a major costs the full five minutes however many goals go in.
- A misconduct removes the player for ten minutes but not his team's strength, so it hurts the roster rather than the scoreboard.
- When the referee's arm goes up for a delayed minor, the non-offending team can attack with an extra skater at little risk — during the delay its opponents cannot score unless it puts the puck into its own net — and if the attack scores, the minor is simply not imposed.
- There is no double major in the NHL rulebook; a four-minute penalty is a double minor, and a third major in one game brings an automatic game misconduct.
A hockey penalty takes a player off the ice for a set time — from two minutes to the rest of the game — and the category decides what his team loses with him. Some penalties leave a team short-handed until the other side scores, some for a fixed five minutes whatever happens, and some cost the player without costing his team a skater at all.
So the most useful way to learn penalties is by consequence, not by infraction. Everything below comes from the NHL's 2026-27 rulebook; other leagues and age groups use their own books, with different penalties and lengths.
Penalties by what they cost
| Penalty | Time | Team short-handed? | Ends when the other team scores? | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | 2 minutes | Yes | Yes | 16 |
| Bench minor | 2 minutes, served by a player the coach names | Yes | Yes | 17 |
| Double minor | 4 minutes | Yes | A goal ends the half being served | 18 |
| Major | 5 minutes | Yes | No | 20 |
| Misconduct | 10 minutes | No — a substitute goes on at once | Not applicable | 22 |
| Game misconduct | The rest of the game | No — a substitute is allowed | Not applicable | 23 |
| Match penalty | The rest of the game; five minutes on the clock | Yes, for five minutes | No | 21 |
Two record-keeping details explain some odd numbers in the statistics: a game misconduct goes into the records as ten penalty minutes, and a match penalty as fifteen.
Minors: the everyday penalty
The rulebook's summary of minor penalties runs to thirty entries, and the familiar ones fall into three families:
- Restraining: holding, hooking, interference, tripping, holding the stick.
- Stick fouls: slashing, cross-checking, high-sticking.
- Physical and conduct: roughing, boarding, charging, elbowing, kneeing, goaltender interference, delay of game, unsportsmanlike conduct.
A minor sends the player off for two minutes with no substitute, and his team plays a man short. If the other team scores, the minor with the least time remaining ends immediately and the player returns. That release does not happen when the goal comes from a penalty shot.
When each team takes one minor at the same stoppage and no other penalties are on the clock, the two are served without substitution and the game becomes four-on-four. With other penalties already running, offsetting minors are replaced on the ice instead, so the strength stays as it was.
Bench minors
Some minors belong to the team rather than a player: too many men on the ice, an improper starting line-up, a face-off violation committed twice in the same faceoff, abuse of officials. The coach designates any player except the goaltender to serve it.
Too many men on the ice is the bench minor that comes out of line changes. Players may change during play, but the one leaving has to be within five feet of the bench before his replacement comes on, and if either of them plays the puck or touches an opponent while both are on the ice, it is a penalty. If the offending team scores before the whistle, the goal comes off as well. Done deliberately late in a game, when the penalty could not be served in full, it becomes a penalty shot instead.
Double minors, and why there is no "double major"
A double minor is four minutes: two minors served back to back. The rulebook reserves it for a short list — butt-ending, head-butting, spearing, high-sticking that injures an opponent, and a second failed coach's challenge for delay of game.
The high-sticking version is the common one. Any stick to an opponent above the shoulders is a minor; contact to the neck, face or head that causes an injury, "in the manner of drawing blood or otherwise", is a double minor. The referee may review video to confirm whose stick it was.
There is no "double major" category in the NHL book; the four-minute penalty is this double minor. A player can, however, take more than one major in a game, and a third major in the same game brings an automatic game misconduct.
Majors: five minutes, no matter what
A major lasts five minutes, and it does not end when a goal is scored. The penalized player waits for the full time to expire. That single difference is why a major is so damaging: a team can concede two or three goals during one and still have time left to kill.
Several majors carry an automatic game misconduct with them. Any cross-checking or spearing major does; boarding, charging and elbowing majors do when the opponent is injured in the face or head. Referees must also review on video every major they call, except a major for fighting, and after that review they can confirm the call, reduce it to a lesser penalty or rescind it.
Fighting, as the rulebook treats it
Rule 46 defines a fight as one player punching or trying to punch an opponent repeatedly, or two players wrestling so that the linespersons cannot easily separate them. Every player who fights receives a major. The rule then sorts out responsibility:
| Role | Additional penalty |
|---|---|
| Instigator | A minor and a ten-minute misconduct |
| Instigator in the last five minutes of regulation or in overtime | A minor, a game misconduct and a one-game suspension pending review; if the suspension is imposed, the coach is fined |
| Aggressor (keeps punching an opponent who cannot defend himself) | A game misconduct |
| First player to join a fight already under way | A game misconduct, at the referee's discretion |
| Removing a helmet before fighting | A minor for unsportsmanlike conduct |
Taping the hands and cutting an opponent, or punching an unsuspecting opponent and injuring him, brings a match penalty. Read as a whole, the rule is built to make starting, prolonging or joining a fight expensive, and it leaves the referees wide discretion to sort out who was responsible.
Misconducts, game misconducts and match penalties
These three remove a player without necessarily weakening his team.
- A misconduct sends the player off for ten minutes, but a substitute replaces him on the ice at once. The rulebook's list includes verbal abuse of an official, continuing a fight and inciting an opponent.
- A game misconduct removes him for the rest of the game, again with a substitute allowed. Repeated game misconducts in certain categories bring automatic suspensions.
- A match penalty is for a deliberate attempt to injure, or a deliberate injury. The player is sent to the dressing room, a teammate serves five minutes in the box, and the player is suspended until the Commissioner rules on the case.
Penalty shots and awarded goals
A penalty shot exists, in the rulebook's words, to restore "a scoring opportunity which was lost". The shooter starts at centre ice with the puck, keeps it moving towards the goal, and gets one attempt — no rebounds, except a puck that hits the post or crossbar, then the goalie, and goes in. The spin-o-rama move is banned, and the lacrosse-style lift is allowed only if the puck stays below shoulder height and is not carried above the crossbar when released.
For a foul from behind, the referee needs four things: the foul happened in the neutral or attacking zone, it came from behind, the player was denied a reasonable chance to score, and no defender was between him and the goaltender. Other infractions that bring a penalty shot include a defender falling on the puck or picking it up in his own crease, throwing a stick or object at the puck in his defending zone, and deliberately dislodging the net when the resulting penalty could not be served in full.
If the defending team has pulled its goaltender, the same kind of foul on a clear scoring chance produces an awarded goal instead — there is no goalie to shoot against.
The raised arm: delayed penalties
When the team without the puck commits an infraction, the referee raises an arm and lets play continue; the whistle goes as soon as the offending team gains control. That delay favours the other team: during it, the offending team cannot score unless the non-offending team puts the puck into its own net, which is why the non-offending team can pull its goaltender for an extra attacker at little risk. If it scores before the whistle, a minor penalty is not imposed at all (for a delayed double minor, half is washed out), though majors and match penalties are still assessed.
The rulebook's own Rule 26 uses "delayed penalty" for something else: when a team already has two players serving penalties and a third is penalized, the third penalty does not start until one of the first two expires. A team can never be reduced below three skaters.
What a penalty actually costs
When you see a call, three questions tell you how much it matters:
- Is the team short-handed? A minor, double minor, major or match penalty creates a power play; a misconduct does not.
- For how long, at most? Two, four or five minutes.
- Does a goal end it? For minors, yes; for majors, no.
Those answers drive real decisions. A team with a five-minute major to work with can keep pressing after it scores, because one goal does not cancel its advantage. Power play and penalty kill explained covers what happens on the ice during those minutes, and the league's video rulebook shows most of the infractions above on film.
Penalties and the players who take them
In Hockey Career Sim 2026 you build one player's career in a fictional league — a scorer, playmaker, defensive leader or netminder — and the Hockey Career Sim 2026 guide covers how each archetype develops. On the management side, the hockey draft simulator guide explains why every one of a starting six's slots matters in 84-0 Hockey Draft & GM Manager, a draft game built on real players' careers with the game's own ratings; hockey positions explained describes what each slot is responsible for. Neither game has any tie to the league whose rules are described here. The hockey hub gathers our other rules explainers, and the full set of titles is under sports career and GM games.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a minor and a major penalty?
Is there such a thing as a double major in hockey?
When is a penalty shot awarded?
What are the NHL rules on fighting?
What is a delayed penalty?
Sources
- National Hockey League Official Rules 2026-2027 (Rules 15-27, 46, 74 and Reference Tables) (opens in a new tab)National Hockey League — accessed
- NHL Video Rulebook (opens in a new tab)NHL.com — accessed
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