If refereeing really needs to be improved, anyone want to propose a solution?

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

What the title says. If we agree refereeing really needs to be improved, anyone want to propose a solution?

Not really thought out, but at first blush, it is a human endeavor. Would it really be possible to get better humans than they have collected than what they currently have?

Or do we look to committees or tech to produce more calls, perhaps using replays, meaning the penalties would be assessed after the next natural stoppage of play to allow time for review?

Or, something else?

If no one can propose anything, then maybe we just accept that not all the calls go our way as fans, and stop griping? I know that won't happen, either, LOL.

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[Mez]

My solution is call blatant penalties regardless of score, time, which team, or which player. /thread.

 

[DearDiary]

Easy, stop game management and just call what they see.

 

[sabresEH]

I’m not sure how many of the current referees fall under this category. But my employee at work is currently working his way up trying to become a ref one day.

He has told me a few stories about guys getting promoted or handed a good gig as soon as they retire from playing pro somewhere because they can skate at that level.

So instead of hiring and promoting the guys who have been referees for a long time, taken all the courses for years, they give the jobs to guys who played at a high level but have no experience being a ref.

 

[Emerz]

Give power plays to dominant possession teams who are being constantly hooked and stick fouled, rather than trying to keep the penalties even.

Reward good teams basically, just because they’re down 2 goals doesn’t suddenly mean that only high sticks and delay of games should be called.

 

[RageQuit77]

Some kind of scoring system for refs based on how well they perform, and higher the score higher their bonus/salary would be.

I don't mean that every single whistle should go through rigorous re-checking process, but at least all penalty calls and situations where penalty wasn't called even it was clearly warranted, as well as all video review situations. Also, it should be relatively easy statistically to spot referees that 'manage game' more and/or more often than refs that don't do that (there are no such refs) or do it least often. Their performances would be then calculated someway and rewarded with reffing score accordingly, those who managing games least and making calls objectively scoring highest points. Scale could be relative, but score would be directly tied to their salary. There would be clear economic incentive for a referee to be a good, objective, and accurate in his profession.

Who would do that? Special NHL set committee of 5-10 persons with all relevant situational video material and rules available. Wouldn't require too much work per night on average, as only situations of controversy, and situations where was potential for controversy to happen would be reviewed and re-evaluated and scored: How well referee X and Y performed from the perspective of hindsight in the game Z? Did call was made or not, and it was right/wrong when made?

The Committee couldn't overrule any rulings and calls made in a game, but they would corral worst BS refereeing out from the ice: "More you suck, less you get paid. Suck enough and there are guys who are eager to come and take your place, so please don't suck! Thank you."

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Reduce game management. Some is to be expected as it is a sport for entertainment and profit, but it has gotten far too transparent of late.

 

[StreetHawk]

Add a ref cam right in the middle of the logo of the helmet. Then we can see what they see. Watch it once in real time to see if you can see the infraction.

I recall the shot from the ref cam during the last World Cup when I believe it was Ekblad who got blown up behind the net. It comes out of the blue and honestly I didn’t even see exactly what happened.
Think doing that will give the fans some level of appreciation of the speed of the game.

when you watch show motion replays you have a higher level of expectation than you should watching it once at real time speed.

 

[Saltcreek]

Accountability, that is what is required. There needs to be an oversight committee that has the power to discipline poor officiating. Right now if the refs continually do a bad job they get to keep just doing that. They have no incentive to improve because there, or appears to be, no punishment for poor perfomances.

 

[LeafsNation75]

My solution is call blatant penalties regardless of score, time, which team, or which player. /thread.

So how do you explain in the Toronto/Arizona game late in the 3rd period with the score tied 2-2 Auston Matthews gets tripped off the faceoff which doesn't get called and seconds later Zach Hyman is called for tripping. If the refs weren't going to call a penalty on Arizona at that time, why would they call that same one on Toronto?

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Fire the refs league wide and hire HF members to take their place, we all know best do we not?

 

[rumrokh]

If the NHL is interested in improving officiating, they'll figure out many workable options. As it is, it shouldn't be difficult to train and hire referees who call the game on the ice rather than the scoreboard. Start there, then we'll see where we are and if there's a next step.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Call the rulebook as it is written, and stop managing the game. Really simple.

 

[puterwiz53]

Let them play and only call the blatant penalties. Too restrictive calling every infraction slows down the game. Have a proper definition of each type of penalty. Far too may iffy penalties called that are not penalties at all and far too many missed calls. The refs have dictated far to many game outcomes because of phony calls or missed calls. Instruct the refs that they cannot make a penalty call unless they see it clearly and it is a blatant penalty.

 

[wgknestrick]

Nothing is going to improve unless every game is evaluated according to THE actual rule book by an independent person. Every ref is held to a certain % standard (say 80% to start, hopefully can get to 90% some day) where they must call 80% of the actual penalties that are deemed to have happened on the ice. This would be made public so it is in the open and maybe attach a ref pay bonus to it. I would also stop the dictatorship of punishment when anyone dare question the qualify of reffing they received during a game. Refs don't pay the teams when they S their Ps. If you can't challenge something, can you ever evolve it? Regardless, the Refs/Ref union isn't going to fix this themselves.

A video ref would help too that could push a button, illuminating a penalty light on the ice. Really, all refs should have some better way of signally a penalty than just their arm up. That way, no one would know who called it (ref 1, ref 2, or video evaluator) which would help the refs IMO.

I can tell you this though. Nothing will ever improve unless you systematically measure it, record it, and hold people accountable for it. You can't expect to drive with your eyes closed. DOPS also needs to be fired and replaced by either a Neurologist, Paul Kariya, Pat Lafontaine, etc someone that understands the danger of some of these plays. Having a fox manage the hen house is laughable at best. I don't get why there isn't a standard chart of suspensions per crime either.

I constantly see very dangerous boardings, cross checks, charges, elbows, punches, etc go unpunished while the refs call very minor holds, hookings, and trips that are questionable at best. I don't think anyone wants to see hockey where 20-15% of the good players are injured. The PP/PK is the best part of hockey, embrace it. Games were better with 6-8 goals/game and 8+ penalties called / game.

 

[ElGuapo]

Sure. Call everything by the rules every time from the first second of the first preseason game to quadruple overtime in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. No game management. Just call the game by the rules. Of course they won't be perfect but at least they'll be attempting to do it right. What's going now isn't just not doing a good job, it's doing it wrong.

 

[illpucks]

Someone bump the thread with the drones dropping the puck proposal

 

[Matty Sundin]

Until they get AI robot refs there's always gonna be mistakes.

 

[JPeeper]

Hold the officials accountable and half this bullshit would stop. Game management horseshit comes from the league which also needs to be abolished, but if the refs were actually reviewed and held accountable for badly officiated games, they would change.

The Flames game last night had perfectly fine officiating, penalties were penalties and nothing outrageous wasn't called. Then I'll watch the next game and the officiating could completely ruin the game. There is no consistency.

I for one hope more coaches and players call out the officiating after awful games, it's not whining when it's this bad.

 

[StreetHawk]

Sure. Call everything by the rules every time from the first second of the first preseason game to quadruple overtime in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. No game management. Just call the game by the rules. Of course they won't be perfect but at least they'll be attempting to do it right. What's going now isn't just not doing a good job, it's doing it wrong.

And if players don’t adjust blame the players and coaches not the refs for ruining the flow of a game even in the playoffs.

but we know that won’t happen.

 

[DowJones]

Not sure how much the reffing can improve with the current 4 ref system tbh. Sure, there is most likely room for improvement in better training, more consistent interpretation of penalties, tweaking the video review system etc. Still I wouldn’t bet on that we will see any significant improvement unless there is a major revamp of the reffing system. It is simply not possible for a human to get it right all the time (or even almost all the time) in that situation.

I hope it will never happen, but if the goal is to have near perfect reffing it would probably need to include some kind of real-time ref-jury similar to boxing. They could be viewing all available camera angles in real time and if a certain % of the jury push the penalty button within a few seconds a penalty will be called.

Even disregarding the unreasonable costs for such a system it would take away an important aspect of the game. In the long run I think perfect reffing would be a huge loss for the game. Hate it or not, but bad reffing creates emotions, and emotions is what makes the game successful.

 

[Vertain]

Re-write the rule book and throw out half the stupid mickey mouse penalties. Simplify the game; in my experience the more complicated you make something, the more likely people are going to make mistakes.

 

[Jacob]

1. Enforce the rules as they are written.

 

[Macbanan]

Fans often say they dislike game management but I definitely find they go absolutely bonkers when there is none.

Lets take crosschecking as an example. Every game there is tens of crosscheckings, most of them completely legal.
A certain level of force is required to turn a legal crosscheck into a illegal one. Let's for the sake of the example set that threshold of force at 100%. Below 100% means legal, over means illegal.

Team A crosschecks 5 times with a legal force that the refs perceive as 85-95%. Team B crosschecks 5 times with an illegal force that the refs perceive as 105-115%.
How do the fans want that game to be refereed?

Without game management it's clearly 5 penalties for team B and zero penalties for team A. But when something like that happens in a game the fans turn absolutely irate and call for the referees heads.

In a real game maybe team B would get 2 penalties in a row and then the ref would see a crosscheck from a team A player with 85% force and call it. Some fans would say "make up call", "soft call" and a few minutes later it's all forgotten about.

The allowed margin of error is significantly smaller when there is no game management.

Let's use that same game and say the refs slightly misjudged 2 of the calls. One check that was let go at 85% was actually harder than one the checks that was perceived at 110%. Now the balance of penalties are extremely lop-sided AND there are examples of bad calls. That makes the fans go from irate to absolutely bonkers, thinking the game is rigged and that's just from two small misjudgements.

 

[Kennedys]

Complaining about the refs is half the fun of watching hockey though