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Montreal Canadiens Shine Light On NHL’s Officiating Problem, But Don’t Expect a Quick Fix

By Ken MacMillan

MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 20: Head coach of the Montreal Canadiens Claude Julien argues his point with referee TJ Luxmore #21 during the third period against the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre on November 20, 2019 in Montreal, Canada. The Ottawa Senators defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in overtime. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 20: Head coach of the Montreal Canadiens Claude Julien argues his point with referee TJ Luxmore #21 during the third period against the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre on November 20, 2019 in Montreal, Canada. The Ottawa Senators defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in overtime. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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UNIONDALE, NEW YORK – MARCH 09: Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders argues with referee Dean Morton #36 during the second period against the Philadelphia Flyers at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on March 09, 2019 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK – MARCH 09: Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders argues with referee Dean Morton #36 during the second period against the Philadelphia Flyers at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on March 09, 2019 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

How do we solve officiating problem?

So what is the solution? Well, the NHL moved from a three official system to a four official system years ago. It has led to less hacking and whacking behind the play as their is an extra referee trailing the play that keeps a lid on that. That’s good, but more needed to be done.

Some will say to hold the referees more accountable for their mistakes. It appears there is no punishment for a lousy official. Well, officials are held accountable for their mistakes, especially those at the highest level. They all work on short-term contracts and if they are deemed not to be performing at a satisfactory level, they will not get playoff games, will get less regular season assignments and eventually lose their contract and job altogether.

They have tried increasing the amount of replays used in the game. It makes sense that video review can help the referees catch things that may have been missed in real time. This has mostly just led to more frustration over players being a fraction of an inch offside long before a goal was scored and confusion over what goaltender interference is.

In college hockey, they review any potential major penalties and head contact calls. In theory it is a great idea as it gives the officials a chance to slow things down and watch them several times. Of course, George Parros was allowed to watch Zdeno Chara cross-check Gallagher in the throat as many times as he wanted and he still couldn’t find the suspension that was staring him right in the face.

That’s the problem. Three people can watch the same video and come up with different punishments for the crime. How do you find consistency when people’s perception is coming into play? You could call the rules in the book to the letter of the law every time you see them happen. Basically, any time a player uses their stick to contact an opponent in any way, it would be a penalty. That is the only way to find consistency, just call everything all the time and then review it to see if it deserved a penalty.

You want to dedicate four hours to watch a hockey game 82 times per year? Unfortunately, the only way to get complete consistency would be to have a parade to the box every night over any contact between opponents. It would be unwatchable.

Unless of course, we can stop people from going to games involving 11 year olds and screaming at officials for an hour straight. Then it would be possible to actually develop officials properly and let them learn by making mistakes at lower levels without feeling the pressure of an NHL Game 7.

Next. Brodin isn't enough for Habs to trade Domi. dark

Until then, we will have to embrace the game, warts and all. The biggest warts are easy to spot, they have the orange bands around their arms. Things boiled over between the refs and the Habs on the weekend, but there is just no cure for what ails the team. That’s either team in this case.

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