Special note: Today's blog is dedicated to the memory of my friend and longtime AHL linesman, Romeo Leblanc. My thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family. Romeo, who suffered horribly near the end of his prolonged illness, is in a better place now. The loss is ours. He was a fine official and an even better friend and human being.
The late comedian Joan Rivers was known for her signature "can we talk?" catch phrase, which was inevitably followed by a long-winded diatribe. You won't get a diatribe from me today. I am just wondering where things are heading with NHL officiating and how it will impact other leagues.
In recent days, we've seen a couple of situations in the NHL where officials have had a discussion after a penalty call or non-call. In Tuesday morning's blog, I discussed the reversed penalty call on Sidney Crosby in Sunday's Pittsburgh-Chicago game.
There actually was a previous situation this season (Oct. 30, Los Angeles at Pittsburgh) in which officials conferred and a penalty call was reversed. On Tuesday night of this week, when Pittsburgh played Washington, Capitals star Alex Ovechkin delivered a rather blatant and clearly deliberate two-hander to the back of Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang's skate. The infraction was missed. Once again, the officials huddled. The no-call stood as is.
However, I have to wonder what the hell is going right now. Clearly, the NHL has said something to the officials about it being OK to discuss penalties after the fact and potentially change a call.
I have two issues with this:
1) Why is this happening more than midway into the season?
2) If this is now permissible, what are the criteria for an in-game powwow over a penalty call? What is and isn't up for discussion? Who decides? How far do we go with it?
If this is going to become part of the game, there needs to be some type of formal and codified procedure in place. As it is now, I am waiting for some type of word regarding the procedures for the review and retraction of a minor penalty in a game.
Yes, the mandate is to get it right but this is drastically changing the rules and protocols in the middle of the year. Not every game has had penalties reviewed, discussed and then rescinded, which makes this very inconsistent and seemingly arbitrary. If there is an actual procedure in place, it needs to spelled out clearly.
I am not opposed to change. The NHL went to one referee because of World War II and manpower shortages in 1943 then never went back to two until Kerry Fraser, Pat Dapuzzo, Kevin Collins and I worked the first four-official game -- at Madison Square Garden, Rangers versus Maple Leafs -- as the league introduced its current system. Later, the two-line pass disappeared. Many other things have changed over the years on a smaller scale; some for the better, some not.
Change can be good. Just let the rest of us in on it.
Tuesday's blog was tongue-in-cheek. Today, I'm being 100 percent serious. We've opened up a huge can of worms. I'm legitimately uncertain about where all of this is headed. I have many officials who work for me in the ECAC and whom I direct in the KHL and its feeder leagues. What do we tell the rank and file that doesn't wear the NHL crest?
Hey, here's an idea. Perhaps, the NHL marketing department that is exploring the idea of adding Euro-style ads on uniforms should get Eggo to sponsor our officials so we can make waffles the official game-day breakfast of our (nameless, voiceless) referees. Myself, I ate a lot of crow.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the ECAC.
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
In addition to his blogs for HockeyBuzz every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Stewart writes a hockey column every Wednesday for the Huffington Post.