Why? Because it evens the playing field, supposedly. Islanders center Mathew Barzal is hooked, chopped, held, slashed, tripped, and cross-checked without a penalty called every game. It’s a problem with the sport, not with the NHL. This philosophy of not influencing the game by completely and utterly influencing the game has permeated every level of ice hockey officiating. That isn’t just something that happens at the NHL level either. We’re aware of the fact that referees intentionally move goalposts on what is and isn’t a penalty, and when it is or isn’t, in order to induce parity in individual games. Everyone who watches hockey at any level knows make-good calls exist. It just scapegoats one man for a problem that is systemic. What bothers me about this, (more than Campbell’s Orwellian title, that is) is that firing a lone referee does nothing to ensure integrity. “Tim Peel’s conduct is in direct contradiction to the adherence to that cornerstone principle…” “Nothing is more important than ensuring the integrity of our game,” said Campbell via a league statement. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly released a statement last night that the NHL would be “taking a look at” at the “hot-mic moment.” Wednesday morning, Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell released a follow-up announcing Peel’s essential firing. The NHL clearly isn’t interested in altering the way their games are officiated either. tKsg2SwGh8- NHL Public Relations March 24, 2021 Referee Tim Peel no longer will be working NHL games now or in the future. But that doesn’t solve the problem really, now does it? Firing Peel does not alter the broken philosophy that permeates hockey officiating. The ruling is really just sending Peel into early retirement since he was set to hang up his skates in the coming months anyway. The NHL has since announced that Peel will no longer be officiating their games. The Problem with NHL Officiating – How it Affects the Islanders & Everyone Else “It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get a penalty against Nashville early in the…” and then the mic cuts off, presumably because Peel or someone else noticed it was recording the conversation. So, when he uttered the words aloud it was heard by everyone watching the Fox Sports Tennessee broadcast of the Predators game against the Detroit Red Wings, not just his fellow officials. Unbeknownst to Peel, his microphone was not muted when he made this admission. He wanted to give a make-good call by penalizing the Nashville Predators. Well, Tuesday, NHL referee Tim Peel admitted to something we already knew unofficially that NHL refs do. Peel might have violated the Golden Rule of committing a misdeed by admitting to doing one despite knowing there was a microphone attached to his uniform, but when you consider the league presumably has access to everything its officials say over the course of a game, it’s almost impossible to believe that there haven’t been other refs who’ve made similar confessions but managed to avoid having them broadcasted to the world.If you read my three takeaways piece on the most recent New York Islanders and Washington Capitals game, you may recall a slide in which I talked about the state of NHL officiating and the downfalls of the “make-good call”. I can’t really say I blame the NHL for taking that particular course of action, but in doing so, it essentially made Peel the scapegoat for a problem that has always plagued the league , as the fact that refs tend to be a bit liberal with their whistle after realizing they screwed up by blowing it to punish the other team for no real reason earlier in the game is the worst kept secret in hockey (and, if we’re being honest, the sports world as a whole.)
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