I'm going to let you on in a little secret: When I was first hired as a referee by the National Hockey League, it was to fill a quota of American referees. The League had caught some flak from the U.S. State Department about the lack of American officials, and I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to complete my transition from professional player to an NHL-employed referee.
Nowadays, I serve as the chairman of the KHL's Officiating Evaluation Committee and well as the Director of Hockey Officiating for the ECAC. One of my goals on the executive side of the business has been to work on achieving greater diversity of officials, especially at the professional level.
The way I see it is that, just as there is no shortage of qualified players from overseas who are worthy of spots on NHL and KHL rosters, there are also international referees and linesmen who are deserving of the opportunity of officiating in these leagues if they so desire.
A few years ago, the NHL hired a Swedish referee by the name of Marcus Vinnerborg. He worked mainly in the AHL and a little bit in the NHL, becoming the first European born and trained referee to work in the NHL. He worked his first NHL game on Nov. 16, 2010 and decided to return home in the summer of 2012. Vinnerborg worked 40 NHL games, all in the regular season.
Marcus is a very good referee, who is highly respected in the international hockey community. He calls a good game, is positionally strong and is a fine skater who can keep up with the pacing of today's game. He should have been a fine NHL referee, too, as he gained experience. Unfortunately, he was basically set up to fail by his supervisors in the NHL.
Vinnerborg was given no mentoring and very little help in general in making the adaptation to the North American game while coping with being away from his wife and kids. As such, it was no surprise that he didn't last long over here. The talent and work ethic were there but there was no support system put in place for him.
For example, rather than having someone travel the AHL circuit with Marcus to guide him, he was basically thrown to the wolves. He'd get an assignment in, say, Albany and be expected to get himself there. Additionally, there was a lack of constructive feedback provided to him.
I have said this many times before and will say it again: I never would have refereed a single game in the NHL, let alone more than 1,000 if I didn't have people like John McCauley, Scotty Morrison and Jim Gregory to support and teach me how to be an NHL referee.
It is not enough just to hand a guy a whistle and a striped shirt and tell him to go out there and enforce the rulebook. Just like players, referees need coaching. They need support from their teammates on the ice and from their bosses behind the scenes. Without it, they are doomed to fail.
Marcus Vinnerborg wasn't the only one who ended up losing out as a result of him being treated as a "failed experiment" to bring some of the top European officials to the NHL. The League itself also lost out on developing a guy who had the potential to someday become one of the most consistently reliable officials in the circuit.
Over in the KHL, one of my pet projects is to recruit and train some skilled North American and non-Russian European officials to work in the circuit. I think the entire league -- which includes many players from Canada, the U.S. and from throughout Europe -- will be better for some wider diversity among the on-ice crews. It will not be an overnight process but it's something that I have no doubt would be beneficial in the long term.
Meanwhile, I sincerely hope that the Marcus Vinnerborg case is used by the NHL as a learning experience from which the league can not only identify qualified European officials but also do everything possible to maximize their chances for success. There is no downside to doing so.
Hockey is a global game, folks. Just as there are great players and astute coaches to be found throughout the world, there are also talented officials who simply need someone to believe in them as well as the opportunity to work their way up and prove themselves.
************
Recent Blogs by Paul Stewart
Kadri and Refereeing by Result
Skate, He Said: Why Today's NHL Refs Get Bad Coaching
Bad Dreams Are Made of This: Some of Them Want to Abuse You
Pat Burns, Anti-Homerism, and the Hall of Fame
A Debt of Gratitude to the Fog
Officiating Teams and Two-Man Ref System
Unsafe at Any Speed: Hockey Equipment and Concussions
************
Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the only American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is a judicial and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials, while also maintaining a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography. 
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
Join the Discussion:
»