How do you feel about playoff officiating? (by letting them "play it out"?)

[steveayres35]

Even though NHL officiating (in general) is inconsistent at times, I feel like it all depends on the situation and how blatant the penalty is (especially during the playoffs)

However, even though I was surprised when they didn't call icing against Tampa Bay in the final seconds of game 6, the entire series had a mixture of missed & controversial penalty calls from both teams (IMO) which means that we'll just have to deal with inconsistent officiating, until changes are made, but it could be worse, right?

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[snag]

The incidental playout ticky tack stuff is fine.....but when when it becomes completely egregious shit that is not the result of the organic flow of play.....call that shit.
Rules exist for a reason. If you can't be consistent as an official, you should officially find a new job.

 

[Avs2022]

They didn't call the supposed icing with about 23 seconds left in game 6, but they called one right before that barely trickled over the icing line maybe 30 seconds earlier. But Hedman should have hustled, he either tired or trying to milk the icing call.

However, icing, too many men, these are calls based on judgements of the ref as opposed to a high stick or puck over glass delay of game penalty, so I give the refs the benefit of the doubt on those calls.

 

[AvroArrow]

It's horrible, I'll say it again for 10000th time, refs absolutely gave Tampa a free ride through games 6 and 7 in round 1. Call the game by the book, that's it, it's not that difficult. You see a penalty just call it, your job is to make calls not dictate the outcome of the game, let the players decide that.

 

[snag]

It's horrible, I'll say it again for 10000th time, refs absolutely gave Tampa a free ride through games 6 and 7 in round 1. Call the game by the book, that's it, it's not that difficult. You see a penalty just call it, your job is to make calls not dictate the outcome of the game, let the players decide that.

Refs need to understand if they were consistent, their jobs would be a helluva lot easier in the long run.....but too many of them are attention whores themselves and wanna be "in the game".

 

[Bear of Bad News]

However, even though I was surprised when they didn't call icing against Tampa Bay in the final seconds of game 6,

Everyone else watching (including the officials) could see that Hedman was coasting. What was preventing you from seeing that?

 

[snag]

Everyone else watching (including the officials) could see that Hedman was coasting. What was preventing you from seeing that?

Rhetorical?

 

[steveayres35]

Everyone else watching (including the officials) could see that Hedman was coasting. What was preventing you from seeing that?

Even though he was coasting, Colorado still would've won, barring a miracle from Tampa Bay if they called icing, won the faceoff, and scored the tying goal to force OT.

I think I was surprised because I didn't know what to expect since game 6 could've gone either way, but I agree, he was coasting.

 

[Crease]

The notion that by the end of the game penalties should be "even up" is ridiculous.

Equally ridiculous is the notion that the team on the penalty kill can't take a penalty.

 

[Bluto]

The NHL should just eliminate all rules and let it be a free for all.
It'll be just like the streets of San Francisco but on ice.

 

[AvroArrow]

Refs need to understand if they were consistent, their jobs would be a helluva lot easier in the long run.....but too many of them are attention whores themselves and wanna be "in the game".

There's just way too much game management and money involved, like game 5 of the finals was a huge example. That was one of the worst officiated games of the playoffs, I predicted it before it happened as well, league wants to make as much money as possible and getting that extra game out of the finals is massive for them. At the end of the day it's a business 1st, and sport 2nd sadly. Should be the other way around.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Just be consistent

 

[GoBuds14]

I’ll start by saying I’m not using this an excuse for the Leafs and the constant blaming of refs by the losing teams fans in sports is a huge pet peeve of mine. But that round 1 series was so poorly officiated, the beginning of the series was a constant parade to the penalty box and really took away from what should have been a highly skilled and fast paced series. The series was at its best when less penalties were being called and both teams got into a 5 on 5 flow

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

I'm firmly in the "swallow the whistles" camp.

Call the obvious stuff, but let the ticky tack things that didn't effect the play go.

 

[Sega Dreamcast]

which means that we'll just have to deal with inconsistent officiating, until changes are made

Officiating is always going to be inconsistent because, even if the refs call everything by the book, some rules are always going to be applied subjectively.

 

[Craigo85]

I don't like putting away the whistle when there are other calls that are basically 100% mandatory (unless they pretend to not see it ... or aren't "sure")

If the NHL won't give the refs discretion to ignore puck over the glass, high sticks and too many men ... then they should call the game at the same standard of play they normally would (ie 3-5 penalties per game per team in a normal game).

I do like "playoff hockey" as long as things don't get dangerous. But the current solution is dumb. And then the refs change standards throughout a series ... even dumber. The league should be watching them all the time and be calling them on time outs/between periods to give them feedback that things are getting out of control and not just fixing it the next game.

 

[beedee]

I think this off season the refs should all come together to agree that they will finally call a cross-check during a puck battle in the corner after the 3rd of 5 cross-checks that were delivered.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

It's f***ing stupid because the NHL thinks the fans will get ornery if they, you know, call penalties as penalties

News flash, Bettman - it's the EXACT OPPOSITE

 

[TheUnusedCrayon]

I enjoy that they let hitting be hitting mostly in the playoffs. Calls like charging, boarding, hits to the head, etc. are all called pretty well and fairly come playoffs and 99% of the time they get it right. Now as for all of the stick work it's horrendously inconsistent. It goes from being called all of the time to "well did it lead to a scoring chance and is the game even close at this point?" type questioning and it's nonsense. It just leads to resentment with the officiating because they'll let one team get away with murder and the other team may have a reason to play it safer so the team constantly interfering, hooking, etc. all get an added advantage and it makes the playing field uneven.

Just call it and call it both ways.

And not to mention the times where they decided not to call it and go, "Oh man that was a penalty but it didn't fit the narrative of affecting the game like it leading to a scoring chance or something so now I can't call anything because we just set a standard of not calling obvious stuff now" or "It's the third period, can't be a loose with the whistles as we were in the first"... It's so bad.

And cross-checking. It went from at times being something where you actually had to earn the call by forcefully putting your stick into somebody to even brushing your stick up against somebody horizontally is now a penalty. Nobody likes the weak calls, so stop calling them.

This year was especially infuriating because they actually went way overboard with letting things go. 99 times out of 100 I prefer for them to put the whistles away vs calling all of the weak calls but this year was too much. Letting super obvious trips and super obvious play affecting penalties go for the sake of game management was clearly giving advantages to teams and some teams clearly abused that. This year was that 1% of time that I would actually have preferred they just consistently called the ticky-tack calls.

Let teams muck it up, let teams compete, let teams hit, but if it prevents the other team from playing hockey fairly then make the call.

 

[snag]

There's just way too much game management and money involved, like game 5 of the finals was a huge example. That was one of the worst officiated games of the playoffs, I predicted it before it happened as well, league wants to make as much money as possible and getting that extra game out of the finals is massive for them. At the end of the day it's a business 1st, and sport 2nd sadly. Should be the other way around.

If it is true, they are fools. That 1 extra game pales in comparison to what they would make if they were consistent. I love hockey....but there is a reason I tune out after my team is done. Imagine trying to get someone who normally doesn't follow hockey getting invested with the shenanigans they pull.

If they were truly serious about growing the game, they would take their own rulebook (and its application) seriously.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It really bothers me (and has for decades) that the NHL sets things up so that teams build rosters full of the best hockey players they can find, and have success during the regular season by playing better hockey than their opponents... and then when the important time of year comes around they flip a switch that rewards teams with scummy players who slow the game down and win on injury attrition. It's a really stupid way to run a league.

 

[ijuka]

My opinion's always the same. Call every rule as it is, every single time. If that makes for a bad game, then change the rules. Don't arbitrarily call some but not others.

 

[madmike77]

Playoff officiating bugs me. Early on -1st and 2nd rounds - they seem to call almost everything - even more so than in the regular season. Then in rounds 3 and 4 it tails off. There are different standards even within the playoffs - one for early and one for late.

 

[Jeremy2020]

The problem with officiating isn't whether they 'let them play' or call the 'ticky tack' stuff. It's that they don't either of them consistently between periods let alone games. The league should be working to address consistency as much as possible.

 

[TheBarnIsElectric]

Just call the dang penalties.