How much NHL referees make during the playoffs revealed

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Joshua Deeds
May 18, 2022 (5:13 PM)

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In the NHL post-season Referees and Linesmen don't get paid a salary, but get bonuses for reffing the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Officials get a flat rate no matter how many games they oversee, and are limited to seven gamea handled per round. However, in 2021-2022, there has been no official with more than 5 games handled. Standards call for one standby official in case of emergencies or injuries as well. So what's the flat rate? Let's go over it.

How overpaid is the officiating according to Scouting the Refs:

In comparison, an average referee earns between $4,000-5,000 per game in the regular season (based on annual salary), so this bonus is right in line.

Regular season salaries depend on years of service in the NHL. First year officials start at just over $200,000 for referees and $137,000 for linesmen, increasing each year. A 15-year referee would earn $430,000 this season, while a linesman with 15 years of service would draw $228,000.

That's an enormous amount for officials who fumbled Game 4 of Toronto versus Tampa Bay series. After the NBA's gambling scandal, it's only a matter of time before one is uncovered in another sport, the question is are these decisions prevalent in the NHL? Where are the ethical rules for Linesmen and Referees?

Fortunately, they haven't made the cut to the next round but the pain is still immense.

Officials even get Playoff Retirement Bonuses for how many playoff games are officiated.

Each official shall be entitled to a retirement bonus calculated as follows: (1) referees shall be entitled to a payment of $27,000 USD times the number of playoff games worked in his career divided by sixty (60); and (2) linesmen shall be entitled to a payment of $17,250 USD times the number of playoff games worked in his career divided by sixty (60).

With how bad officiating is in the off-season and how lax rule enforcement is, the question is, Bettman in all of his wisdom deferring to NHL ownership how long will this last, while game management is occurring? NHL refs have made game-changing decisions in round 1 and there needs to be a correction sooner or later, as it affects the integrity of the game.