NHL looking at giving referees more in-game power

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Sam Hutch
April 1, 2022 (1:50 PM)

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At the game's highest level, the officiating has been abysmal at best this season. Is it possible the National Hockey League gives their power-hungry officials more authority for things in-game management?

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on this week's 32 Thoughts, it's entirely possible. The NHL is currently looking at giving the officials the power to review any major penalty assessed and wipe the call off the board entirely if it's an improper one. Currently an official can't completely wipe away a penalty if one is called on the play, but they can downgrade it from a 5-minute major and game misconduct to a 2-minute minor penalty.

There is some issue here, though, the NHL doesn't want longer game times unless it's a playoff game that goes into overtime, and as such, there is some pause as to whether or not to give league officials more power to review thus overturn calls. They are currently looking at the NCAA, where officials can overturn a major penalty, and what they've found are longer run times and a lot more pauses. Ideally, as stated above, the NHL would like to keep regular-season NHL games at or below 2 hours and 30 minutes total run time. This would potentially extend games beyond that time frame, which is why there is hesitancy. The rule stays the same for now, officials can downgrade a major penalty to a minor one, but they can't eliminate the call once a major has been assessed.

Opinion: The more the NHL empowers the officials, the more unwatchable their product becomes; in theory, this rule change would be good for the game, but you know that with the way the officiating is in the current game, any more power given to the officials on the ice to be able to determine the outcome of a game will be going to their head. Here's a thought, it's 2022; why not allow all official reviews to get conducted from an off ice perspective. Remove the preconceived notions and allow the NHL War Room to make these decisions.