Paul Stewart: Lion Tamers and Reputation Penalties

I think Rinaldo gets called based on his reputation, but he has earned that bad rep so it's hard get too heartbroken about it.

What about when Brendan Gallagher was told by a referee that 'that would have been a penalty against any player except you'.

Implying pretty explicitly that the refs are not calling a penalty drawn by Gallagher simply because of his reputation not based on the actual play, or the rulebook.

Paul,

So what would have been your call on the play?

Paul,

So what would have been your call on the play?
- J35Bacher

Good question J35Bacher. Would be great to hear Paul's answer. Also, would/should there have been a penalty call on Rinaldo's attempted elbow on Green just prior to the skirmish with Chimera?

There's been quite a few times where Downie has done nothing to warrant a penalty yet was given one just because he is Steve Downie.

Good question J35Bacher. Would be great to hear Paul's answer. Also, would/should there have been a penalty call on Rinaldo's attempted elbow on Green just prior to the skirmish with Chimera?
- AndreLacroix

The one elbowing call he got I really think he was just falling.

I was just curious. I remember when Carcillo did it with Bradley but Bradley got a chance to drop his gloves yet they deemed carcillo didn't give him time to defend so carcillo got 10, 5, and 2 and the caps got a 9 min powerplay out of it. I was just curious as it seemed Rinaldo wasn't engaging in a fight and kind of had a lineman already on him. He really didn't get a chance to defend himself and I think took a cheap shot from Chimera

Reputation penalties exist, we all know it.

It doesn't help when Rinaldo lays a hit on another player, knows he's going to get suspended about it, and then gloats about it. His little tirade after the game will also not help reduce the size of the target on his back.

He's an undisciplined player and a moron to boot.

Any chance that the NHL adopts IIHF standards and more heavily scrutinizes blows to the head? I mean, aside from the 120 second commercial time-outs...

Why doesn't the league wake up and change the way they hand out suspensions? They should set a standard, like a knee-to-knee = x games, a blow to the head = y games, no matter who the player is. Then, if a repeat occurs, it can go higher. But every player should know that if they make a hit, it will be a minimum of so many games.

I do believe the are reputation calls all the time. There were a couple times I remember with Downie who I know walks and sometimes crosses that line of legal play was more or less jumped and did nothing but put his arms up to defend himself and he got a 2 minute penalty along with the initiator. I've seen this happen with other similar players from other teams. Now maybe not every ref calls it this way but reputation calls happen quite often. Makeup calls I believe as well happen way to often but I think they happen in two ways. First, there are times where a ref know he made a bad or ticky tac call on one team and returns the favor and calls a penalty on the other team for something he probably would of otherwise let go. Second is when one team has had 3 or 4 more PP's than the other team and all of a sudden PP chances are even by games end. Not saying it can't ever happen where PP's even out but you very rarely see a team with 3 or 4 more PP's than the other team.

I'm curious Paul if you think refs hold grudges at times on certain players and those players can hardly ever draw a call?

I do believe the are reputation calls all the time. There were a couple times I remember with Downie who I know walks and sometimes crosses that line of legal play was more or less jumped and did nothing but put his arms up to defend himself and he got a 2 minute penalty along with the initiator. I've seen this happen with other similar players from other teams. Now maybe not every ref calls it this way but reputation calls happen quite often. Makeup calls I believe as well happen way to often but I think they happen in two ways. First, there are times where a ref know he made a bad or ticky tac call on one team and returns the favor and calls a penalty on the other team for something he probably would of otherwise let go. Second is when one team has had 3 or 4 more PP's than the other team and all of a sudden PP chances are even by games end. Not saying it can't ever happen where PP's even out but you very rarely see a team with 3 or 4 more PP's than the other team.

I'm curious Paul if you think refs hold grudges at times on certain players and those players can hardly ever draw a call?
- Guins6687

When officials put on their equipment, they should take out of their bags a bottle of Clorox. Before they head out to the rink, they should magically soak their brains and bleach out any preexisting thoughts about the game. Take experience and feel out with them and then ref the game as it happens.

Granted, an experienced referee will take a look back when a Glenn Anderson type of player gets behind him. I never not knew where that guy was but I had to ref every game like it was a new sheet cake...take it as it happened and deal with it, with feel and patience. Players didn't screw with me because they knew I didn't care..I'd ding them if I had to, home or away.

I found that talking to the guys, working with the coaches and skating hard usually got the respect that I needed to do the job.

Mental Clorox helped, trust me. I used a lot every time I got dressed and on my skates.

players like crosby dive all the time how come he gets the benefit of the doubt when he clearly dives most of the time