Montreal columnist is dead on
Jack Todd: NHL needs to put control of the game back in referees' hands
Give the referees the power they once had to officiate the game. There was a time, before the two-referee system and that utterly inept war room in Toronto, when a single referee ran the game he officiated. There were mistakes but on balance, it worked — just as soccer somehow gets by with a single ref who has to keep an eye on a vast pitch and 22 players.
If we’re going to keep replay reviews (and I’m afraid no league will have the guts to ban the whole thing) the war room should have only one purpose — to back up the on-ice officials and to give them the support they need. When the referee wants a certain angle, the war room provides it. The technocrats can weigh in with an opinion but the ultimate decision rests with the referee.
There is one simple goal: to get it right. The senior referee is in charge, with help from the junior referee and the linesmen. If he feels that he needs to look at what may have been a hand pass to a teammate, he skates to the sideline and reviews the play. The war room is there only to provide him with every possible angle.
Here’s the key: If you’re going to have replay review at all, then any play is reviewable IF the head referee decides to review it. No need to spell out what can or cannot be reviewed — if the referee thinks a penalty or a disallowed goal or a hand pass deserves a review, he has the power to review it, period. No more falling back on the excuse that the play can’t be reviewed.
The NHL, as we have seen, can’t provide for every contingency in the rule book, so we have the absurd situation in which a goal can be waved off if an onrushing forward was a millimetre offside — but the ref can’t take a second look at a hand pass to a teammate that proved to be decisive. The excuse is always the same: league officials shrug, say the play isn’t reviewable and that’s it. Case closed.
The only solution is to put control of the game back in the hands of the league’s referees. They’re on the ice, their butts are on the line.
Then put a gag order on the shabby second-guessing from the head office. After all, they’re the ones who created an unworkable system in the first place.
Jack Todd: NHL needs to put control of the game back in referees' hands
Give the referees the power they once had to officiate the game. There was a time, before the two-referee system and that utterly inept war room in Toronto, when a single referee ran the game he officiated. There were mistakes but on balance, it worked — just as soccer somehow gets by with a single ref who has to keep an eye on a vast pitch and 22 players.
If we’re going to keep replay reviews (and I’m afraid no league will have the guts to ban the whole thing) the war room should have only one purpose — to back up the on-ice officials and to give them the support they need. When the referee wants a certain angle, the war room provides it. The technocrats can weigh in with an opinion but the ultimate decision rests with the referee.
There is one simple goal: to get it right. The senior referee is in charge, with help from the junior referee and the linesmen. If he feels that he needs to look at what may have been a hand pass to a teammate, he skates to the sideline and reviews the play. The war room is there only to provide him with every possible angle.
Here’s the key: If you’re going to have replay review at all, then any play is reviewable IF the head referee decides to review it. No need to spell out what can or cannot be reviewed — if the referee thinks a penalty or a disallowed goal or a hand pass deserves a review, he has the power to review it, period. No more falling back on the excuse that the play can’t be reviewed.
The NHL, as we have seen, can’t provide for every contingency in the rule book, so we have the absurd situation in which a goal can be waved off if an onrushing forward was a millimetre offside — but the ref can’t take a second look at a hand pass to a teammate that proved to be decisive. The excuse is always the same: league officials shrug, say the play isn’t reviewable and that’s it. Case closed.
The only solution is to put control of the game back in the hands of the league’s referees. They’re on the ice, their butts are on the line.
Then put a gag order on the shabby second-guessing from the head office. After all, they’re the ones who created an unworkable system in the first place.