31 Thoughts: Why navigating Phil Kessel trade won't be easy for Penguins - Sportsnet.ca
20. Commissioner Gary Bettman meets with the media before Game 1 of the Final. It will be interesting to see what he says about the future of video review. We are headed for change, but the question is, “What will that look like?” Watching the aftermath of San Jose’s Game 3 overtime winner against St. Louis, I can’t tell you how many people were struck by the lunacy of everyone in the building knowing about Timo Meier’s hand pass — except the four people who mattered most. It was on the scoreboard, on TV screens, on phones. But not accessible by the officials.
For the second time in the post-season (the Game 7 crew from Vegas/San Jose was the other), officials were sent home because of in-game mistakes.
(It should be pointed out the league backed Kelly Sutherland, who did not eject Charlie McAvoy in Game 6 of Boston/Columbus. He is still working — assigned to the Cup Final). No official wants to make that kind of mistake, nor suffer the public rebuke of a post-season banishment. According to multiple sources, they are willing to accept expanded review. But what will be the scope of it?
21. The problem with the debate is that few would have predicted what happened with Pavelski against Vegas or Meier against the Blues. So, how do you protect against what you may not expect? Review all goals? For what, specifically? Brad Schlossman of
The Grand Forks Herald reported last week that both of those scenarios could have been reviewed under NCAA rules, where there are 14 different options for replay.
One of the ideas being floated is doing this just for the playoffs, but I think that’s wrong. It’s hard to make the post-season, and the consequences for failing to do so are severe. Another idea suggested to me is taking one referee off the ice (on a rotated basis) to sit as the “eye in the sky.” That would, in theory, open up some room. It is on the Competition Committee’s agenda, that meeting set for June 11.
22. Boston/Carolina Game 4, the night after the Sharks’ disputed goal, featured six whistles for hand passes. That was the most in any game this season, surpassing the five from Carolina/Buffalo on Feb. 7. Total coincidence.