Colorado Avalanche Head Coach goes against NHL policy and calls out league referees

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TJ Tucker
November 1, 2023 (8:37)

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Jared Bednar, head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, is not too happy with the way things went down in a recent game, and he's letting the league know it.

The whole thing goes back to an incident with star defenceman Cale Makar. In a a game two nights ago against the Buffalo Sabres, Makar left the game briefly after going into the boards hard.

After that, the Avs Nathan MacKinnon was livid a penalty wasn't called. He ended up with a 10-minute misconduct for making his feeling known to the officials.

Bednar told reporters MacKinnon was just sticking up for his teammate, and the referees need to handle criticism better.

"There's frustration out of our team because that [penalty] wasn't called. [Makar is] obviously a key player for us."

"You get a little frustrated and you have a few things to say. I'd just like the officials to have thicker skin in that spot. You know they may have missed one or decided not to call it � whatever it is. I think you've got to take a little bit of harsh feedback in that situation without doling out a ten-[minute misconduct]."

"If it carries on and carries on, then that's a different story. That's my issue."

The NHL made it clear to coaches and general managers before the season began that it wants far less criticism of referees to be made public. The league may want to ensure better officiating before asking them to do that.