The rule does not involve playing the puck.
With your logic, someone could come over the boards at any time and not get a penalty as long as they dont interfere with the play or play the puck. This is incorrect.
The rule is 5 feet. The player is considered in play as soon as both skates are on the ice.
Quote
Too Many Men on the Ice - Players may be changed at any time
during the play from the players’ bench provided that the player or
players leaving the ice shall be within five feet (5') of his players’
bench and out of the play before the change is made. Refer also to
Rule 71 – Premature Substitution. At the discretion of the on-ice
officials, should a substituting player come onto the ice before his
teammate is within the five foot (5’) limit of the players’ bench (and
therefore clearly causing his team to have too many players on the
ice), then a bench minor penalty may be assessed.
When a player is retiring from the ice surface and is within the five
foot (5’) limit of his players’ bench, and his substitute is on the ice,
then the retiring player shall be considered off the ice for the purpose
of Rule 70 – Leaving Bench.
The only debate here is if Vanek is within five feet of the bench (in which case, Twax's suggestion of a painted line isnt bad. But the league has previously ruled against adding more lines to the ice.)
I say, at the time when BOTH of Nyquist's feet hit the ice, per the rule makes him a countable player, Vanek is beyond 5 feet.
It is important to note that in the picture I took, Nyquist is already in stride meaning Vanek was further away than he currently shows in the picture when Nyquist became a countable player.
This post was edited by Stealth on Oct 20 2018 10:47pm