Penalties should be called consistently across regular and post season.

[Nikishin al Gaib]

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.

Thing is, we already have evidence of this with the 2005-06 season and the clamping down on clutching and grabbing as a defensive tactic. They went into the season trying to eradicate it from the game, kept up with consistent calls over the course of the season, and by the time the playoffs came around, it had largely disappeared, and its not really come back.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

This is way beyond regular season vs playoffs

They’re making phantom calls on non existent slashes and high sticks while letting guys take people’s heads off

It just makes no sense at this point

 

[ElysiumAB]

A crew should ref each series, every game.

The first penalty in each game sets the tone for what will and will not be called that game.

Then communicate with the players/teams and be consistent with the severity of what's being called.

That's all I want.

 

[banks]

I'd settle for consistency in supplemental discipline.

The game moves fast on the ice, and an in-game decision can be a pressure cooker. And refs aren't perfect and will miss things. So even if they're trying their best to be consistent from game-to-game, it's impossible to get the on-ice calls right and consistent every time.

But supplemental stuff? The DoPS sits in a well lit, air conditioned room, catered lunches, with multiple replays and camera angles and years of precedent to compare to, with days to review, deliberate, and decide. It's a perfect environment to come to a well reasoned and explainable decision. How can it be a wheel of justice? How!?

 

[bucks_oil]

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 agree with you.

Call the game consistently all year.

During the regular season, that might mean a more flowing game, less hooks, trips, etc... or a few more power plays on nights when a team is tired and making lazy (illegal) defensive plays. So what, that will set the standards. If you have a night where you get 8 PP against, well, you are going to lose because you weren't defending within the rules. Suck it up and play smarter tomorrow.

Then come playoffs, the defensive intensity is naturally going to ratchet up, but that means more hits, tighter checking, better layers of defending by having guys constantly back in position. Will there be more passion? Of course! Will that passion cause you to cross the line on a check? Occasionally it will... here's two minutes of purgatory to remind you that you crossed the line and may have hurt your team. If it was a "good" penalty, maybe your team will dig in and kill it off for you. That's all GOOD HOCKEY.

But playoff intensity doesn't need to mean more hooking, more tripping, more headshots, more cross checks... nobody is here to watch that. We are here to watch massive hits, end to end rushes, unbelievable dekes, seeing eye passes and huge saves. That's GOOD HOCKEY.

In short, you don't need to throw the rule book away to get better "playoff hockey", the players are going to be pumped up to win no matter what. Keep the guard rails up and consistent, they will play right up to the edge of those rules. They are there to PROMOTE GOOD (and safe) HOCKEY.

 

[bucks_oil]

A crew should ref each series, every game.

The first penalty in each game sets the tone for what will and will not be called that game.

Then communicate with the players/teams and be consistent with the severity of what's being called.

That's all I want.

Be careful what you wish for. Refs do get emotionally involved in the games... they have off nights when their judgment is called and they can hold grudges too.

I think it's healthy to rotate them around, maybe have three crews in a geography rotate between three series... you still get some familiarity/consistency, but you don't end up with refs getting too emotionally caught up in the drama of a series and having it cloud their judgement. They get a mental reset with each game they ref.

 

[NyQuil]

I think they've actually moved towards calling it more like the regular season in recent years.

A lot of ticky tack calls in the first round.

Someone posted the PP rates and there isn't the same kind of discrepancy that you would see during the DPE when everything was basically allowed.

 

[TMLeafer]

Stick infractions are one thing but you can't just game manage head contact.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

lol, dude, you’re asking way too much.

Penalties aren’t even called consistently throughout the same game, depending on the score, whoever has more power plays, and time in the game.

 

[Summer Rose]

I think they've actually moved towards calling it more like the regular season in recent years.

A lot of ticky tack calls in the first round.

Someone posted the PP rates and there isn't the same kind of discrepancy that you would see during the DPE when everything was basically allowed.

Power play opportunities were down league-wide this year by something like 25% or so compared to last year. Maybe they were just preparing us for the playoffs in advance.

My general feeling is that there's much less of a difference between playoff officiating this year compared to the regular season than in previous seasons, but I don't pay nearly as much attention to that kind of stuff anymore. I'm sure there are data sets out there that quantify this feeling, if I were so inclined to go looking for them (which I'm not).

 

[Edmonton East]

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 am so tired of these dumbass threads. Also, fans whine about the officiating in the NFL more than any other mainstream sport, so no clue wtf you are talking about. A close second would probably be the NBA, which is an embarrassment with officiating. The best any reasonable person can hope for when playing in or watching a game is general competence and consistency within said game (and tbf there is plenty of fair complaining to do about that). All refs call things differently. All have some degree of bias. They are people. Acting like you can get these guys to be robots ignores human biology/history/psychology. Lastly, newsflash, there are "missed" calls literally every game from pre-season through playoffs.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Guy digged 13 brutal non-calls but there's more, way more.

 

[Edmonton East]

lol, dude, you’re asking way too much.

Penalties aren’t even called consistently throughout the same game, depending on the score, whoever has more power plays, and time in the game.

Bingo. The most blatant and obvious example of this is the crazy high threshold required to take another penalty when already down 5v4. Ironically, it was probably one of the only realistic aspects of EA NHL games for years. Down 5v4? Just don't flip the puck over the glass or stab a guy and you are golden.

 

[NyQuil]

Bingo. The most blatant and obvious example of this is the crazy high threshold required to take another penalty when already down 5v4. Ironically, it was probably one of the only realistic aspects of EA NHL games for years. Down 5v4? Just don't flip the puck over the glass or stab a guy and you are golden.

In the Ottawa-Toronto series, there have been two 5 on 3s (one for either team) and both were on calls that let's say, weren't the most egregious that I've ever seen.

 

[Edmonton East]

In the Ottawa-Toronto series, there have been two 5 on 3s (one for either team) and both were on calls that let's say, weren't the most egregious that I've ever seen.

Sure....of course there are outliers/exceptions. See my post before that regarding ref/crew differences, not being robots, etc.

 

[NyQuil]

Sure....of course there are outliers/exceptions. See my post before that regarding ref/crew differences, not being robots, etc.

Well, I'd say, for the most part, the reffing in the Ottawa-Toronto series has been about trying to keep a lid on it as much as possible.

I don't know if they were given marching orders given the rivalry and past incidents like the Greig slapshot, but for the most part, they get right in there before anything can turn into anything.

I don't like a lot of the dirty stuff, but at the same time, I think the refs have gone a little overboard in trying to snuff all the emotion out.

 

[NotSNFan]

Is there any other major North American sports league where inconsistency of refereeing is an issue EVERY playoff? This is where the NHL stands alone

 

[qcal1427]

Is there any other major North American sports league where inconsistency of refereeing is an issue EVERY playoff? This is where the NHL stands alone

It's literally every single league in world sports!!!! People are never happy with referees!!!!!

 

[lwvs84]

Shouldn't we start smaller? How about consistently across a game? How many times do we see one team get away with a ton of stuff and the other team get called for everything?

 

[wetcoast]

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.”

Are you new here or to hockey?

I'm not saying that you are wrong but the different playoffs rules are entrenched in the NHL good luck trying to get any fairness there.

 

[Score8]

Will never happen, the nhl will never give up their ability to control the game . Unfortunately game management is here to stay under this current leadership. Additionally as long as they keep hiring ex meat head players to run DOPS there will never be an unbiased ruling. Bottom line is, keeping the games close protects the nhl bottom line.