IS there a solution to the NHL's ref problem?

[Viqsi]

Going by this article, it seems pretty hopeless, all things considered.

What We Learned: the NHL has an officiating problem, is there a solution?

"Wow all the refs suck!" Okay and if they call the rulebook to the letter, the product sucks. There's no good answer here.

eprinkside.com

Paywalled, but here's excerpts of the relevant bits, with emphasis added here and there:

I'm not going to tell you that the NHL's officials do a good job of calling the games. I'm saying the opposite.

Yes, they have a hard job that's always going to leave someone upset, and a lot of media members will scold you if you even say they had a bad game, but it feels lately like the postgame criticism of officials on the part of coaches in particular has reached some kind of fever pitch.

Again, I'm not defending the refs here. They miss so much stuff over the course of a game, let alone a series, that you start to wonder whether these guys really are as good as we're constantly told they are. But it feels like every other game in this postseason so far, someone's getting up there and saying, "Actually it's not fair what the refs did to us." And at some point it's just like, "We get it, man." You can call it working the refs but it's happening so frequently at this point that it can't really be having an effect, can it?

The only answer is for the league to start making a bit of a public spectacle of firing refs for being bad at their jobs. And it's one that's totally reasonable in theory but not workable in actual practice, and I'm not talking about any aspects that their union, the NHL Officials' Association, plays into. I'm talking about just having enough refs who are even vaguely competent when it comes to keeping up with the game at this level.

Literally every ref with at least five games this season doled out between 5 and 7.3 penalties per game on average. Among refs who worked exclusively in the NHL, the number is between 5.3 and 7.3. We're not getting much variation on that front, because it's also rare that refs call a lot more penalties on one team than the other. So we're talking basically one extra power play per team per game from the least whistle-happy ref to the guy calling the most in the league.

(T)he only cudgel the league really has is to not give these refs playoff games, right? But someone's gotta call 'em and it's fair to say that they all see the sport and interpret the rulebook in pretty much the same way.

We hear all the time, too, about how hard it is to find good officials for this league, the NCAA or CHL or whatever. Short of creating a better pipeline to convince and train ex-players to become officials, there's not a great solution that starts with "get new refs" or "change the way the refs see their role in the game." And I'm telling you now, if you mix in more ex-pros and you're in favor of calling the rulebook to the letter, I don't think you're gonna like how those guys see and call the game, either.

This isn't like climate change, where there's even a semi-obvious solution that no one in power wants to address. It's not that everyone wants to address the NHL's officiating problem, but rather that there is not a workable solution that everyone will remotely agree with. In global football, they adopted this thing to do big replays, some of it computer-assisted, called VAR. Everyone hates it! And they still get calls wrong all the time!

(EDIT: Trimmed down the excerpts a tad out of copyright concerns.)

Click to read more...

 

[5minutemajor]

Yes, enforce the rules. Other than that, the referees are great. The problem is that the league does not want its own rulebook to be enforced.

There is no bias, though.

 

[Mr Kot]

It's simple.

We, uh, kill the Batman.

 

[Primary Assist]

Enforce the rules to the letter, players will adapt. Much better than somewhat enforcing the rules and always having there be an argument when something gets called

 

[AvroArrow]

Get rid of Bettman, they're doing exactly what the league wants them to do. Why would they be held accountable and punished ?

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Unpopular opinion: There is no officiating problem, just a problem of crybaby fans with 6 angles of HD slo-mo replays, social media to go cry on and an inability to accept that their favorite team wasn't good enough.

 

[landstuhltaylor]

If everybody who screamed about reffing tried to ref even once, there wouldn't be a shortage or outrage about them

 

[Jumptheshark]

nope.... problem is that ALL fan bases are pissed off and that should tell you something

 

[Viqsi]

I note that apparently three out of the first four replies didn't even read the OP.

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

Why not just take the penalties that are called now, put them on the big screen for fan review at the game, and if the crowd thinks it’s a penalty they cheer and if they think it’s not they boo? Lol

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Unpopular opinion: There is no officiating problem, just a problem of crybaby fans with 6 angles of HD slo-mo replays, social media to go cry on and an inability to accept that their favorite team wasn't good enough.

I think there's an element of that because social media allows us to analyze every single play like it's the Zapruder film, but even ignoring that portion there is still markedly bad officiating.

The refs routinely fail to establish a consistent line of what will and won't be called a penalty within a game, let alone keeping that line even close to being similar across games.

Whatever the league does now, it's clear the refs need more training and post game analysis. If they reviewed game tape like players to and discussed what was good and bad about the calls, you'd think the officiating would improve as the season wore on in establishing a more consistent tone.

One small thing that can also help is to punish clear dives more severely. Use video review after games. If a player grabs his face and wasn't even touched with a high stick, that's an immediate fine that is publicly stated by the league, and the next incident is a one game suspension.

Players embellishing isn't just part of "if you ain't cheating you ain't trying." If you're cool with embellishing, don't bitch about the officiating. It makes the refs job even harder in determining what's a penalty.

 

[1989]

I note that apparently three out of the first four replies didn't even read the OP.

What? Not reading the OP? Here? HFBoards? No... No, that can't be right.

 

[PostBradMalone]

Yes, but fair warning it is extremely expensive and high-tech:

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Should be technological solutions in the not very distant future. AI connected to all the angles and ice level interactions, no bias or human emotion, every angle available instantly. Rulebook in RAM.

 

[Some Other Flame]

The solution is to make chatGPT the referees

Bad reffing won't be an issue when a rogue AI kills everyone

 

[Stealth1616]

The reffing issues is really just a consistency issue. It is annoying to see the standards change game to game and ref to ref. Game management is certainly at play.

The reality is that these issues stemming from the game being quite fast and it is probably incredibly difficult to have the judgement to call penalties

 

[Bones45]

The reffing issues is really just a consistency issue. It is annoying to see the standards change game to game and ref to ref. Game management is certainly at play.

The reality is that these issues stemming from the game being quite fast and it is probably incredibly difficult to have the judgement to call penalties

This. Super fast game, cant see everything, guys embellishing, refs are moving too and trying not to get hit by a body or puck while staying in position. Not an eviable gig at all. At BEST, you are a non-issue, and at worst, you are getting death threats by some fat ass clown who probably can't even skate.

Calls are missed, bad/wrong calls are made, but its part of the game. Move along.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Unpopular opinion: There is no officiating problem, just a problem of crybaby fans with 6 angles of HD slo-mo replays, social media to go cry on and an inability to accept that their favorite team wasn't good enough.

I wouldn’t say it’s just fans, historically people in the game almost never criticize officiating but we’ve seen a noticeable rise in players, coaches and gm’s criticizing the officiating on a pretty regular basis now, to the point where on multiple occasions the league has had to come out and issue broad threats of hefty fines.

The league wants to maximize revenue and they do that by ensuring parity. They don’t want to see blowouts, they don’t want teams seasons basically being over by November and they don’t want playoff series ending in 4-5 games. Officiating is one of the tools they use to ensure parity.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Getting more non-stupid fans would help a lot.

The reffing's been ok: not great, not terrible. Yeah some awful calls but those always happen every now and then.

The refs not going for Knies' olympic level dive last night is an example of good reffing.

 

[Axe Man]

Refs are far from perfect but missed calls always seem to balance out in the end. It’s not easy being a ref, especially nowadays.

 

[gary69]

Why not just take the penalties that are called now, put them on the big screen for fan review at the game, and if the crowd thinks it’s a penalty they cheer and if they think it’s not they boo? Lol

Beavis and Butthead could make the decision like they did with the crease goals

Or if NHL wants more modern solution, Chat GPT could probably take the responsibility for these decision with a short preparation, eliminating the human ref error/variation in judgement.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

A number of the newer ones are not NHL level such as Luxmore.

Some veteran officials such as Sutherland thrive on allowing games to escalate out of control for the ability to exert power via misconducts.

The majority are adequate and merely stuck in a tough position due to game management expectations. That lack of consistency is what causes the majority of criticism.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

A good start would be letting the refs face the media or at least take some questions.

The gold in Fort Knox is less protected than NHL referees, especially after Tim Peel blew their whole scheme wide open.

 

[Bones45]

A good start would be letting the refs face the media or at least take some questions.

Does any organized professional sport do this?

 

[M88K]

The only fix is get rid of game management and call penalties consistently and by the book.
No letting a team get away with a ton because their losing, or because they're undisciplined and you want to try and even up the PP opportunities.

The problem is the NHL is telling the refs to artificially try and create drama in every game, by changing the rules based on score effects so that a losing team might be able to get back into the game.

No separate standard for officiating in the PO, which is what's really causing the problem.
Refs let teams get away with more in the PO, so then the frequency of slashes, crosschecks or late hits starts to go up. Eventually it gets to a point, where it's happening so frequently, they now have to call it, after letting either team get away with it for half the game, which leads to crying about call. Then they call something weak against the other team at the first chance to "even it out" which then causes players to cry about it. You also have teams that go into the PO expecting the calls to be looser, and then cry insistently when it is not.