Penalties should be called consistently across regular and post season.

[Carl Hungus]

games with a thousand powerplays are boring to watch

I prefer the violence personally

 

[ole ole]

Maybe in a vacuum I agree. But the NHL playoffs are so intense and filled with emotion, the last thing you want to see the refs do is call a ticky tac penalty in the middle of a tie game with the series and potentially careers on the line. I prefer they look the other way and just call the obvious stuff when the games matter the most.

True but the problem they are not calling the obvious stuff nor calling the dangerous cheap shots. Refs in general suck.

 

[Pavels Dog]

I agree. Call regular season the same way things are being called in the playoffs.

 

[qcal1427]

I mean, sure. None of us like this complaining about the refs stuff. Regardless of how earnest it may be on a case to case basis.
But the overall point is solid. As #Chaos stated above, something I've often said near-verbatim myself, "If it’s a penalty in the 1st period of the 1st game of the regular season, it should be a penalty in OT of game 7 of the finals."

As soon as that happens though the same exact people are going to complain that the playoffs have gone soft and become the ref show

There is literally no possible way in which the game can be reffed that would make people happy. It's best to just stop thinking about it

 

[Anglesmith]

100%. There would be a small adjustment period and then it would be normal.

The refs want to not be a factor, but by increasing the amount of discretion they use and making every penalty subjective the result is the opposite. They now very much play a role in deciding the outcome.

This has always been the most disappointing part of the playoffs for me.

And anyone thinking that intensity of playoff hockey depends on players being allowed to make illegal plays doesn't understand intensity, in my opinion. The stakes are what they are and the intensity will be there regardless. What would change is that we wouldn't consider it the ref's decision to call a particular penalty, we'd just see it as a mistake by the player as it should be.

 

[Matty Sundin]

I don’t think people realize if you call everything that’s a penalty in a game, half the game or more would be all special teams. I do agree there’s a problem sometimes with refs though it’s usually an over exaggeration of fans venting their frustration with their team and looking for an excuse. Fans having issues with refs has been a thing since the beginning of sports and won’t go away.

 

[MXD]

The NHL needs to define a crosscheck, a hold, an interference, etc., and hold refs accountable if they aren’t living up to the set standards. That’s largely what the NFL does, works for them. Their reffing ain’t perfect, but it’s worlds better than the gong show that is the NHL.

Playoffs have more effort, hits, and playing through injury. Crosschecks to the back are bullshit, they shouldn’t be a part of this. Clear trips are still clear trips. Don’t like it, don’t like seeing special teams during playoffs? Too bad, they’re part of the game, just hope that your team stops doing dumb shit.

Seriously, I do get the desire and argument for relaxing the reffing, but the problem with that is you then have a sliding standard where no one knows what’s allowed and what isn’t. I think you see it most obviously with crosschecks this postseason, and it just leads to a weird split where regular season and playoffs require two totally different builds and attitudes. Players and coaches have to know what the standards are gonna be either way, and I think it’s a lot easier and more logical to just have 1 set of rules. Missed calls will still happen, but it’s like you can see the refs calculating “that’s a penalty.. but not a playoff penalty, maybe. Shit, idk.”

I don'T disagree with this

 

[Chaos]

I don’t think people realize if you call everything that’s a penalty in a game, half the game or more would be all special teams. I do agree there’s a problem sometimes with refs though it’s usually an over exaggeration of fans venting their frustration with their team and looking for an excuse. Fans having issues with refs has been a thing since the beginning of sports and won’t go away.

Or the players will adjust

 

[andora]

This debate can dive off a cliff

Powerplay fests would kill the interest

 

[BagHead]

This debate can dive off a cliff

Powerplay fests would kill the interest

If they called penalties consistently, players would adjust over the course of the regular season and know what will be called by the time the playoffs come around, and so they would attempt to not commit those infractions. The result is that there wouldn't be powerplay fests.

We know this is true because hundreds (or thousands?) of other leagues around world, ranging through various age and skill levels, have more consistency between the regular season and playoffs than the NHL does, and their games don't turn into powerplay fests.

 

[andora]

If they called penalties consistently, players would adjust over the course of the regular season and know what will be called by the time the playoffs come around, and so they would attempt to not commit those infractions. The result is that there wouldn't be powerplay fests.

We know this is true because hundreds (or thousands?) of other leagues around world, ranging through various age and skill levels, have more consistency between the regular season and playoffs than the NHL does, and their games don't turn into powerplay fests.

The more they called it by the book The more people bitch about not understanding what is what

It's just annoying skip the playoffs if it's that much of an inconvenience

 

[Anglesmith]

I don’t think people realize if you call everything that’s a penalty in a game, half the game or more would be all special teams. I do agree there’s a problem sometimes with refs though it’s usually an over exaggeration of fans venting their frustration with their team and looking for an excuse. Fans having issues with refs has been a thing since the beginning of sports and won’t go away.

This just isn’t realistic.

Players and teams who are incentivized to win will not continue to commit those needless infractions if they are being repeatedly called for it. And we already know that this adjustment happens because the league has made such a shift before. Virtually none of the waterskiing that was an integral part of the game through the 90s and early 00s exists in the game currently.

If you called players playing that style of defence by today's standards then yes, there would be a penalty every few seconds. But it is not realistic to expect players to do the same thing under different rules.

 

[ref19]

This debate can dive off a cliff

Powerplay fests would kill the interest

I mean exhibit A is Vegas/Minnesota today. Had they called the game right, this game doesn't go to OT. Linesmen having a tough playoff as well.

 

[Chainshot]

Can we at least get to penalties being called consistently in the regular season first?

 

[Korpse]

If they called penalties consistently, players would adjust over the course of the regular season and know what will be called by the time the playoffs come around, and so they would attempt to not commit those infractions. The result is that there wouldn't be powerplay fests.

It’s crazy that it can be a game in January and it’s impossible to get a call.

 

[Realgud]

I don’t think people realize if you call everything that’s a penalty in a game, half the game or more would be all special teams.

No

 

[jkrdevil]

The refs are human and that leads to more caution in big spots. That’s because calling a penalty that is wrong is viewed as worse than missing a call. There really isn’t anything more to it than that.