Editing Roger Neilson (section)

===Coaching legacy===
Neilson dedicated his entire life to coaching and hockey. He had no family ties and would stay up late into the night watching video and analyzing games.

Among his most well-known innovations was the use of [[Video cassette recorder|videotape]] to analyze other teams, leading to the nickname "Captain Video". He was also the first to use microphone headsets to communicate with his assistant coaches.

In situations where the face-off was in the opposition's end and there were three or less seconds to go in the first and/or second period, Neilson would pull his goaltender for an extra attacker for a potential shot on net off the ensuing face-off. His reasoning was that if the other team gained possession of the puck, it would be virtually impossible for the opposition to score from their end in the mere seconds that were left.  No other coach would consider this radical move, and it was indicative of his innovative thinking.

Neilson was well known for closely reading the rule book with the intent of exploiting [[loophole]]s. During one particular game in his first season coaching the Petes, he was down two men in a [[five on three]] situation for the last minute of the game. Realizing that more penalties could not be served under the existing rules, Neilson intentionally put too many men on the ice every ten seconds. The referees stopped the play and a faceoff was held, relieving pressure on the defence. In addition, Neilson also took advantage of fans throwing objects onto the ice to deliberately cause stoppages of play late in a game. After these displays, the rules were changed so that a call for too many men on the ice in a five on three situation, or a delay-of-game penalty in a five on three situation, or any deliberate act to stop play (i.e., objects thrown on the ice, or the net being intentionally dislodged) in the last two minutes of regulation or in overtime now results in a [[Penalty shot (ice hockey)|penalty shot]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Neilson also discovered that if he put a defenceman in net instead of a goaltender during a penalty shot, the defenceman could rush the attacker and cut down the latter's angle of shot, greatly reducing the chances of a goal. In 1968, he used this information in an OHL game between Neilson's Peterborough Petes and the opposing [[Toronto Marlboros]]. Neilson replaced Petes goaltender Pete Kostek with defenseman [[Ron Stackhouse]]. Stackhouse successfully blocked Frank Hamill's penalty shot attempt by charging out as soon as Hamill crossed the blue line.<ref>{{cite news|title=Penalty shot bid blocked by defenceman|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-qUtAAAAIBAJ&pg=4070%2C6460564|access-date=30 January 2015|agency=The Canadian Press|work=The Montreal Gazette|date=September 27, 1968}}</ref><ref name=kay>{{cite web|last1=Kay|first1=Jason|title=NFL has Deflategate, did the NHL have Coffeegate?|url=http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/nfl-has-deflategate-did-the-nhl-have-coffeegate/|website=The Hockey News|date=January 29, 2015 |access-date=30 January 2015}}</ref> The rules now state that a team must use a goaltender in net for a penalty shot and that the goaltender cannot leave the crease until the skater has touched the puck.

One game during a time-out, Neilson told his goaltender, "...when we pull you, just leave your goal stick lying in the crease." When the other team gained possession, they sent the puck the length of the ice toward the open net, only to deflect wide when it hit the goal stick lying in the crease. The rule was changed the next season so that a goal would be awarded in such a situation.

Neilson also broke the rules, in a sense, when he did not like what was happening on the ice. As the Canucks coach during game two of the 1982 [[Campbell Conference]] Final playoff series against the Chicago Blackhawks, he felt his team was unfairly penalized on several occasions during the third period. He took a trainer's white towel and held it on a hockey stick, as if to wave a white flag. Three other Canucks players did the same thing, and all were ejected from the game. By doing this, Neilson inadvertently started an NHL tradition. Canucks fans [[Towel Power|waved white towels by the thousands]] at the next game, a playoff tradition that continues to this day and is widely copied by other hockey teams.<ref>{{cite news|last1=McIndoe|first1=Sean|title=NHL Grab Bag: Everyone in Toronto Seems Extremely Chill About Clarkson's First Goal|url=http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nhl-grab-bag-everyone-in-toronto-seems-extremely-chill-about-clarksons-first-goal/|access-date=March 28, 2017|work=Grantland |date=November 22, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Laing |first=Zach |title=NHL History: Roger Neilson waves the white towel |url=https://canucksarmy.com/news/nhl-history-roger-neilson-waves-the-white-towel |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=CanucksArmy |language=en}}</ref>