Paul Stewart: Peel, Mental Clorox, and Officiating Integrity

Tim shouldn't be the only one let go. Colin Campbell needs to be booted. That guy is responsible.

He said "It wasn't much" not that it "Wasn't a penalty"

Feels like you're carrying NHL water here Stewy

He said "It wasn't much" not that it "Wasn't a penalty"

Feels like you're carrying NHL water here Stewy
- TheGame316

He is calling for the end of Campbell's tenure yet carrying water for him?

When I first heard the soundbite I thought to myself there had to be more to this, that the game was ugly or getting out of hand or Detroit had like 3 or 4 power plays in the first period.

When I checked the box score and saw there was only 1 penalty in the first I was very confused.

As an official at a pretty high level myself there is the subconscious feeling knowing that I put this team shorthanded 3 or 4 times in a row. However I have never made up a call.

It's one thing to call a weak penalty on a team that had 3 or 4 power plays in a row, but it's another to go out and call a weaker penalty and say he meant to do it when there was only 1 penalty in the game up until that point and caught on a hot mic.

I know his partner Kelly Sutherland wouldn't disagree with him on the ice under those conditions but would probably talk to him in the locker room about it.

The NHL has a mess on their hands, and the end of Tim's career shouldn't be the end of it.

We need the truth, from Bettman down to the Zamboni driver. The NHL is in a bad spot now, especially with the new ESPN/ABC TV deal. Who trusts this league now?

Penalties in hockey are like Holding in football

There are penalties ALL THE TIME if you go by the strict written rule of the rulebook but NOBODY wants to see a parade all night to the penalty box and 20 powerplays for each team

So the Referees manage the game, when one team starts leaning with more "infractions" then they get a penalty call against them, and it evens out the equilibrium

It's like speeding, you don't need to get EVERY car that's speeding, just one every once and a while and people will slow down because they know they might get caught or there's a speed trap up ahead

Anyone who's every played hockey knows that if you get a few PP's in a row that you are due for a call against you and if the game is tight you play extra careful

I don't get the outrage, but media is all about casual fans these days

He is calling for the end of Campbell's tenure yet carrying water for him?
- bmeltzer

He's got an axe to gring with Campbell so I take that with a grain of salt

He's throwing Peel under the bus and deep down he knows better. He's just not going to acknowledge that referees do in fact "manage the game" and that there isn't anything wrong with that

He's got an axe to gring with Campbell so I take that with a grain of salt

He's throwing Peel under the bus and deep down he knows better. He's just not going to acknowledge that referees do in fact "manage the game" and that there isn't anything wrong with that
- TheGame316

There's a difference between being a game manager and making up calls

If games are getting out of hand, as an official you better start managing the game, BUT you don't insert yourself in a game unless you have no other choice.

NHL once again demonstrating its officials are terrible. They need to be made available to the media after the game and forced to watch their mistakes and apologize for them.

The officials need to be graded each game by an independent body and the results need to be published. They need to be fined for each incorrect call and the fines need to be public.

Drastic measures need to be taken for the garbage officiating nhl fans have been forced to endure for too long.

What Peel said and did is what requires action and response by the NHL.

If Peel is typical of all, most, or some officials, that needs to be investigated. If Peel was somehow encouraged or enabled by superiors or NHL culture, that needs to be investigated too.

Officials should assume everything they say will be heard by unintended parties -- on the ice, in the building, or out in regular life. As a professional, there is no place for such comments, ever, anywhere. Officials may only be on the ice for 3 hrs/night 4-5 times a week, but they represent the NHL and the profession 24/7.

Throwing questions/blame at cameramen or broadcast crews is an outrageous distraction from the core incident. I was with you, Paul, until you threw that out there. Unfortunately, blaming the broadcast group flushed your credibility down the drain.

And reading the text of this article is a master course on why the officiating is awful. No public accountability. It is more important to be private than correct.

What right has nhl officiating earned to keep mistakes private. Favoritism, arbitrary, ignorant, vindictive, afraid. These are the ways I would describe most officials body of work.

At this point, officials should be removed from the ice and teams should call their own penalties. They would do a better job than what we are forced to watch game after game, year after year.

And Tim Peel was absolute garbage as a ref before this incident. It’s a shame that he earned money as a referee at any point in his life.

Thanks for your insights on this. I can only say that Peel sure seemed comfortable saying what he said and not to read too much into it, that suggests to me that his intended audience wouldn't have a problem hearing what he had to say. We see missed calls every night and we also see phantom calls every night. The league has to demonstrate that this is an isolated incident and that referees' first job is to call the game that's in front of them. If that means 1 team gets 9 penalties and the other gets none, then that's what the ref's have to call. It looks like they're putting their thumbs on the scale and it sounds from Mr Peel like the choice of when and where they put that thumb on the scale is at the discretion of each individual ref. That's not acceptable at any level, let alone the top level.

There's a difference between being a game manager and making up calls

If games are getting out of hand, as an official you better start managing the game, BUT you don't insert yourself in a game unless you have no other choice.
- Stripes77

Once again, he didn’t “make up a call” what he said is that it “wasn’t much”, which does not indicate it was nothing, just that it was perhaps a weak call, by NHL standards

NHL standards that are well understood that not EVERYTHING is called

It would have been more egregious had he admitted he saw something and DIDNT call it because ... “reasons”

Credit to the broadcasting team for 'screwing up' and allowing this referee's commentary to be overheard. Otherwise, corrupt officiating such as this would never be exposed.

NHL once again demonstrating its officials are terrible. They need to be made available to the media after the game and forced to watch their mistakes and apologize for them.

The officials need to be graded each game by an independent body and the results need to be published. They need to be fined for each incorrect call and the fines need to be public.

Drastic measures need to be taken for the garbage officiating nhl fans have been forced to endure for too long.
- Shrike

The officials aren't terrible... IT'S MANAGEMENT... Colin Campbell and Tim Murphy should be FIRED.

Thanks for your insights on this. I can only say that Peel sure seemed comfortable saying what he said and not to read too much into it, that suggests to me that his intended audience wouldn't have a problem hearing what he had to say. We see missed calls every night and we also see phantom calls every night. The league has to demonstrate that this is an isolated incident and that referees' first job is to call the game that's in front of them. If that means 1 team gets 9 penalties and the other gets none, then that's what the ref's have to call. It looks like they're putting their thumbs on the scale and it sounds from Mr Peel like the choice of when and where they put that thumb on the scale is at the discretion of each individual ref. That's not acceptable at any level, let alone the top level.
- OilyJay

I hope Tim Peel sues the NHL, Colin Campbell and Tim Murphy personally. All the refs should be standing shoulder to shoulder with Tim Peel.

(frank) Colin Campbell.

There's a lot to digest here Paul.

First and foremost, Tim Peel did not make that statement to his fellow referee. Nor did Mr. Peel make that comment to a linesman. Instead, he said that to a player, Filip Forsberg and he did so right in front of the Predator's bench. Now that constitutes flaunting his power in the game.

Second: you laid some blame on the person who turned on the on ice mic. This in itself is ludicrous. If not for that mistake, we would still have Tim Peel refereeing games in the NHL. There is one person to blame and that is Tim Peel. Period!

The NHL has partnered with sports gambling. As have all professional sports. They are in bed with Fan Dual. While I have no idea if Mr. Peel had placed a bet on last nights game, it could give the impression of trying to influence the outcome. That alone is reason to terminate Tim Peel. It is or maybe was only a matter of time before a player, staff member or official stepped over the line and tried to make an easy buck. Like I said earlier, I have no idea if this is the case. But, the optics are horrible for the league.

... seems to me, Peel was probably making an "attrition" call to make a team remember that a referee exists. Ie, a team starts to get more and more illegal with their playing and the ref has to call one on them and then their illegal activity simmers down.

But this game is about managing illusions, and that's what officials do. That's also what the NHL does. Politics is politics, whether in politics or in the NHL: it's all about optics and not at all about justice. They threw Peel under the bus because of the optics: to avoid too much negative PR, they scapegoated the guy. Just the way it is. Too much money on the line, especially in a league that is suffering getting chunked by the lockdown.

It's naive to think that officials are there just to call penalties as they see them. Fraser all but revealed all of this. Officials who are veteran see illegal activity picking up and start warning players, and then call a penalty to negotiate a pace for the game where players are playing hard, being semi-illegal, but not outright illegal.

The PR involves not only the official's relationship with the NHL, but also the official's relationship with each and every team. It's a high stress job that involves getting yelled at on a routine basis. On top of calling penalties, they have to make sure not to draw attention to themselves, explain to players and coaches why they made the calls, and then explain to the NHL afterwards what went wrong with the games that did get out of hand or the games where they attracted too much attention.

I always preferred international officiating - guys that don't really care which teams win; they just call penalties, bad ones, good ones... penalty sheet ends up between 4 and 12 calls on both sides, and neither team can complain about bad calls because they're made on both sides, and one "single" call didn't end up being the power play that "decided" the game.

But I feel bad for the guy. It probably sounded a lot worse than it was. It was probably a gaffe - ie, he didn't actually reveal what he wanted to do, but ended up misspeaking. It was a mistake, no doubt about that, but with a league getting more and more obsessed with optics in the increase of social media and media eyes and ears, I can't help but think that being an arbiter in just about any sport in this environment would be too high stressed a job.

It's easy to say "just call the game as you see it", but down on the ice level, it doesn't work that way. The NHL has been hammering its own officiating lately, especially after the Sharks/Golden Knights 5 minute major, they're going to make it an impossible environment to work in, and end up with more turn-over in officiating, and in the end, no one credible will want the job because they hate their bosses. The same thing is happening with the Police Force in America... Crossfire (Lauren Southern) demonstrates this well - that policing is far more effective when police have positive PR with their respective communities. Same thing with officiating in the NHL: they're going to be a lot better at keeping games legal if they maintain a good rapport with the teams they're officiating.

Call the game, don’t “manage it” . I feel like these refs are following orders most of the time. But Paul, I’ve seen you ref. You “managed” games. What he said is the nhl’s worst nightmare, but we’ve all known that every ref does it. Including the great Stewart.

He is calling for the end of Campbell's tenure yet carrying water for him?
- bmeltzer

He is calling for Campbell's head... where? He said there needs to be more than a statement, god you suck.

Penalties in hockey are like Holding in football

There are penalties ALL THE TIME if you go by the strict written rule of the rulebook but NOBODY wants to see a parade all night to the penalty box and 20 powerplays for each team

So the Referees manage the game, when one team starts leaning with more "infractions" then they get a penalty call against them, and it evens out the equilibrium

It's like speeding, you don't need to get EVERY car that's speeding, just one every once and a while and people will slow down because they know they might get caught or there's a speed trap up ahead

Anyone who's every played hockey knows that if you get a few PP's in a row that you are due for a call against you and if the game is tight you play extra careful

I don't get the outrage, but media is all about casual fans these days
- TheGame316

This guy gets it

Peel just got caught verbalizing something we all know has been going on in the game for as long as time has been.

Being the 'god' of the arena is pretty heady....up until you put the work in. That was my experience in reffing in kids soccer. (Those damn teenagers were fast!) The way I stayed neutral was to know nobody. No personal biases because it WASN'T personal.
All of these complaints can be boiled down to it being PERSONAL.
We are emotionally driven, unless we aren't.
My suggestion is to hire officials from leagues outside of North America. If they can skate and read a rule book (in their own language), let them in.
Every official 'manages' the game here. EVERY ONE.
They talk about the spirit of the rulebook, the camaraderie, the yada-yada-yada.
The fact is when, we make things social, it always falls apart.
It's one of the reasons chipped pucks are desired by me. Tennis balls aren't much bigger than pucks and they use machines for calls.
This isn't a Church Picnic we pay to attend. I don't want sermons about the sacredness of the current formatting of games.
We have cameras and instant playback. Take one of those refs off the ice and put him in a booth. Let him dictate from that throne. He will have evidence and causes for any decisions. Linesmen become accessories in my world. More bouncers than near-sighted arbiters.
BTW, I am rarely as ticked off by calls than I am by non-calls. Take a look at the play Laughton (Flyer's fan here!) was picked up by the stick between his legs and then thrown to the ice, onto his head, DURING A FACE OFF!!
WTEVERLOVINGF was that. OPS did it's normal 'run into the shelter till the storm passes' non-decision.
I'm tired of 'we are all in this together' crap. Officials are to apply regulations to the game, unless their bosses want them not to. The problem starts at the top.
Enough kissy-face kissy-butt BS.
Stewart says he was ready to go to the parking lot to fight but he always 'called the game' as it was. Seems to be a bit of a dichotomy there. If you called it right, why have to defend it by threatening somebody, somebody who wasn't a pro-fighter like himself.
As to Peel, he always sucked, always. His biases were blatant to me and I am not making that up. My team frequently suffered due to his inadequate self. I am glad he got canned. There's a few more but he was one of the most foul.
I don't want a fraternity of officials. I want the professional graduating class.