Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22
There has been in indisputably steep drop in the average number of power plays awarded in the NHL since the 2005-06 lockout. That has led to many people pinning most or all of blame for the drop in individual scoring in the league on "bad officiating" since, well, the refs make for convenient targets for anything and everything that ills the game.
In reality, there is not one single cause for the trend. There are many different factors at work here. No one is blameless.
1) Coaches' over-emphasis on structure. The NHL has once again become a league of 2-1 and 3-2 games because structure is valued above all else. Creativity with the puck is frowned upon. It's all about making safe plays with the puck, backchecking constantly and bottling up the scoring areas. Well, guess what? When two teams play overly conservative hockey, there are fewer situations (speed through the neutral zone, open scoring chances, etc) that are likely to create power play opportunities.
2) Diving and embellishment. The epidemic of diving and embellishment around the game created a boy that cried wolf effect around the game. It doesn't stop players from diving (the periodic joke fines are no deterrent) but all the flopping around they do rather than trying to battling through obstruction has backfired. It degraded the caliber of play and ultimately played into why there are fewer penalties called.
3) The push-pull effect. Hockey is a sport of trends and counter-trends. The NHL doesn't want its officials to be "obtrusive" ("Let the players decide the game, dammit!") and yet it also doesn't want officials to "swallow the whistle" ("If it's a holding penalty early in the first period, it's a holding penalty with the game tied late in the third"). There is a constant push-pull in the directives that come down to the rank-and-file officials.
Throughout the course of every season, there is a need to periodically send reminders and reiterate fundamentals to officials in order to stay vigilant about calling certain things properly and nuances such as determining when a defensive board pin merits a penalty versus when play should continue. The key, however, is that if we want greater consistency in officiating (absolute consistency is impossible to attain), we also need consistency in the tone and specifics of the communication.
Old-school coach Vic Stasiuk used to confuse his position players with instructions such as "check but don't check." The NHL sometimes does this with its officials, too.
4) Positioning and judgment. Good officiating starts with proper positioning. I have made no secret of the fact that I think today's NHL officials receive bad coaching on how to position themselves. If we want to prioritize "staying out of the way" above getting the proper vantage point to make a call, we are going to see a higher percentage of missed calls and non-calls around the net especially.
Likewise, we've discouraged officials from using their judgment because of the constant repetition of the false notion that "a good official is one no one notices." We give them a sweater and a whistle, yet we teach them to second-guess their own judgment. This has a trickle-down effect to an increasing number of officials who reach the professional level lacking either the knowledge or confidence to make tough judgment calls. Instead, they largely stick to the automatic calls mandated by the rule book (e.g., delay of game for puck over the glass in the defensive zone), blatant infractions and reputation penalties.
5) Loss of emphasis on feel for the game and hockey sense. Listen, we are all in this together. Officials themselves need to take ownership of their own role in the game. We need more and better officials from the grass root on upwards to the top pro levels; folks who understand the need to take personal accountability and build acceptability over time.
Ultimately, as the late, great Frank Udvari taught me, there is no substitute for a referee possessing hockey sense. He must have a feel for the game and the flow of play as well as technical knowledge of the rulebook and the physical tools to do the job. Hockey sense is largely innate but must also be sharpened over time and experience.
There are many times where an official must walk a fine line between offer-officiating and under-officiating; it's a constant balancing act because neither extreme is desirable. We mustn't fear the game and its inherent friction and physical nature. It is, however, our job to keep things fair and as safe as possible. Doing otherwise cheats the game and ignores the fundamental purpose of our job.
As supervisors and teachers, we should not coach our officials to be robotic and interchangeable any more than we should coach players to be that way. Every official is going to have his own style and personality. Moreover, just as not every player in the league is going to be a star and there a lot more "average" ones around than true standouts, the same dynamic applies to officials. It is the ones who need to retire -- or need to be retired -- that are of greatest concern.
My method of teaching and coaching officials is steeped in the old-school values that my mentors, father and grandfather taught me but is also grounded in the changing demands for today's game. Ultimately, we need to put our officials in position to succeed rather than setting them up to fail.
Once we send them out there on the ice, however, it us up to the official and his teammates to call what needs to be called and uphold both the flow of play and the safety and integrity of the game. To do less than that does the game a disservice.
Officiating is a very tough and thankless job and there really aren't many people who are cut out physically, mentally and emotionally to do it. Those who whine the loudest often couldn't fill a 3x5 index card with what they actually know about the art and (inexact) science involved in the job. However, that does not release officials from their own responsibilities.
You've been hired to do the job. Do it to the best of your ability.
*********
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 the chairman of the officiating and discipline committee for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials, while also maintaining 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.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography.