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Last night I sat down to watch the Canadiens and Golden Knights game and once again what should have been an enjoyable experience was made near unwatchable due to the reffing. I'm not here to specifically talk about any individual plays or who was or wasn't favored by the calls. If you've been watching any of the series you likely already know of most of the controversial calls or non calls.
The Seattle Kraken will join the rest of the league this fall and both the team and the new fans will have to deal with this issue as well. People are fed up with how the games are getting called; changes need to happen.
Just stating, "if the League called the rulebook, things would be fine" doesn't do enough to truly address the problem. I'm a guy with a keyboard and a bunch of opinions so here are my thoughts on what the NHL should do this off-season in regards to their reffing situation.
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1) Reevaluate The Rulebook - In order for real change to occur, it needs to be done from the ground up. The first step must be for the League to go back to the rulebook and define what the rule of law means. For example, here is the verbatim definition of Cross Checking from the handbook:
Cross-checking is the action of using the shaft of the stick between the two hands to forcefully check an opponent with no portion of the stick on the ice.
(a) A minor or a major penalty shall be assessed for cross-checking an opponent.
(b) A major plus a game misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player who injures an opponent as a result of cross-checking.
Now anyone who has watched a hockey game for more than 5 minutes knows that dozens of cross-checks go unnoticed a game. Guys fighting for position in front of the net are constantly cross checking each other, as are players on the boards when battling for a tied up puck. No where in the rule book does it state these as exceptions to the rule. I'm not saying that the league needs to ban this completely, what I am saying is that if you are going to allow it then add it to the rules. Add an amendment that states when battling for position in the crease you may use your stick to push off another player if they are facing you, but if their back is turned to you you cannot.
Have the NHL, the refs, and most importantly, a group of players make these decisions. Do the players want all cross checking banned? All three sides need to come together and find a middle ground on how the game can and cannot be played.
2) Back To School - Once this has been decided, the League then needs to hold camps for every single team to walk them through the rules. I'm going to go back to the cross-checking example. Have the players know that cross checking for position in front of the net is fine but the moment you cross check someone from behind where they cannot see it coming it is going to be a call.
Again, all of this is about clarity. The players and to a lesser degree, the fans, just want to know what is and is not a penalty. This is crucial for growing the game as well. How can the NHL expect to bring in new fans if those new fans have no clue what is going on? I cannot count how many times I have had to explain to someone unfamiliar with the game, "yeah that player slashed that other player on a breakaway, but it wasn't as bad as that other slash that happened earlier in the game so there isn't going to be a call."
3) !@#% Game Management - I never want to hear the words Game Management again, for as long as I live. For those not familiar the idea is this; Team X gets penalized on a bad call so later in the game the refs will call a bad penalty on Team Y to even things out. Other times it's even worse where Team X will get 4 powerplays but the refs will ignore the next bad call against them because they don't want to overload the game with too many powerplays.
Two wrongs do not make a right. Penalties in a game don't have to be even and sometimes one team is "dirtier" than the other. The only thing worse than making a bad call is doubling down and making another bad call to even things up.
4) Don't Use Replay As A Crutch -I've heard some people suggest that Coach's Challenges should be opened up to more than offside or goaltender interference calls such as if a slash or a hook or a trip or anything else occurs which then results in a goal. I dislike this as all it serves to do is be a crutch for the refs. If everything can be called back than the refs don't need to work as hard on the ice to get the play right in the first place. In addition it would just slow down the game far too much, bogging everything down with waiting to review plays.
5) Be Open - Look, no one is ever going to be entirely happy with the reffing in any league. Fans will always believe that some refs are simply out to get them or that one team always gets calls in their favor. While it will never be perfect, it would help if refs and the League by extension, owned up to their mistakes. Let's say there was a theoretical incident where two players got into a scrum and one player ended up punching the other in the face while the ref watched and did not make a call. After that game the NHL and ref should reach out to both teams, explain that the situation was not handled correctly and that in the future those types of incidents will be penalized.
One thing I have heard from players and coaches is that the refs now do not explain their calls like they used to. Back in the day refs, coaches, and players had an open relationship where they would explain why certain calls were and were not made. Now the relationship is far more hostile with refs essentially telling both teams, "deal with it."
There is my two cents on the current situation around the NHL. Somehow the NHL and it's employees need to figure this out because we are heading full force to a breaking point and if we can't slow down this is going to ultimately and irreparably hurt the game of hockey.
Seattle Kraken Blogger • 
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