However, the attention quickly turned away from the game being played on the ice. Midway through the second period in Nashville, the Predators found themselves up 1-0 when the local FOX affiliate began to head into a commercial break. The league occasionally directing officials to answer questions from reporters could also offer a channel of clarification and accountability.In one of the first major incidents involving an official since the Tim Donaghy scandal took over the NBA in 2007, the NHL finally had to bring the hammer down on a referee after a game between the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings. The NHL are almost never made available to the media after games, even in situations where an officiating decision may have had a significant impact on the game. There also exists a strong lack of direct accountability and communication from the officials themselves.

Rarely has the league gone out of its way to publicly provide clarification or a consistent response to these controversies. The NHL has been plagued by a number of major controversial officiating decisions in recent years - many of them coming in highly consequential postseason situations when there seems to be a different (read: much more lenient) rulebook in place. There's a human element to officiating and the job is harder than most of us realize, especially in a game as fast as hockey.īut, at the very least, such a system would offer transparency to teams and fans and help the league keep receipts on the behavior of its officials. And before you rush to grab your pitchforks, that doesn't necessarily mean the league has to fine or suspend officials every time they get something wrong. The NHL could implement a similar system in which the league offices examine officiating decisions in each game and release reports on where things were called correctly or incorrectly. What might that look like? Well, for starters, the NHL could look at what the NBA does with its 'Last Two Minute Reports.' When it comes to those reports, the NBA investigates and analyzes the quality of officiating decisions toward the end of close games, and they release those findings to the public - openly conveying when refs get things right or wrong. The league could save a little face here by committing to accountability and transparency when it comes to on-ice officiating. It's easy enough to look past this behavior and say it's just part of the game, but the NHL does have an opportunity to use this latest incident as a catalyst for meaningful change. But why do we accept this as common practice? And, perhaps a better question, why are officials allowed to double-down on bad officiating without being held accountable by the league? Many times we've seen one team get hosed on a penalty call (or non-call), only to be conveniently gifted a make-up call shortly thereafter. Regardless of which camp you reside in, the next set of questions should be rather obvious: Where does the league go from here? Will this change anything? Would Peel have even gotten in trouble had he not been caught on a live mic? (I think we can all probably answer that last one.)Īgain, 'game management' has long been accepted as part of hockey. Others will say that it's an adequate response that to the situation and the league's statement could serve as a warning shot to other officials who may find themselves in a similar set of circumstances moving forward. Some will view Peel's dismissal as the league feigning a moral stance while guiding him out the door slightly earlier than expected. Just that he won't work any additional games. No where in the NHL's statement does it say that Peel was 'fired' or 'terminated' or anything of the like. Peel, 53, was set to retire from officiating at the end of this season anyway, so his dismissal only expedites his departure about a month early. While this seems like a surprisingly strong (though entirely appropriate) action from a league that doesn't often hold officials accountable in a public forum, it can also be argued that it's not quite as harsh as it appears on the surface.

Tim peel hot mic