After that non-call on Letang today, i'm curious if others agree that the NHL needs to make a change here.

Refs suck.. blah blah blah... bias against Canadian teams.. blah blah blah.. refs suck off to PIT.. *cough*

Just summed up what this thread will be like

The officiating has been really rough in these playoffs so far.

Do they need to? Yes. Will they? Of course not.

It's a fine line to draw. At the beginning of the season when they cracked down on slashing calls, a lot of fans complained about the excessive penalties and how it interrupted the flow of the game.

You all know that I never defend Pittsburgh, and I may be wrong on this, but it is my understanding of the rule that since Letang made contact with the puck first, it isn't a penalty. Sort of like when a backchecker dives to defend a breakaway, if they knock the puck off the stick before taking out the guys' legs, it shouldn't be a penalty.

Again, I may be wrong in this, but that's my understanding of the rule. I'd have to look at the official rulebook more closely

The "breakaway rule" was changed this year. Doesn't matter if the Dman makes contact with the puck first, if he trips the original puck carrier, it's a penalty. Actually Zaitsev was called for a penalty like this in game 5.
PS. I thought Letang deserved a penalty/
In the Leafs game, certainly appears that Nash had broken has stick with a shot. He held onto the stick so it wouldn't be on ice and when Bozak came near him, he dropped his stick. Bozak got a penalty. So it wasn't so much that it was "non call" where the ref didn't see the play or chose to ignore it, he just made up something that "might have happened" (Bozak breaking Nash's stick.)

I say we either abolish having refs completely and go back to the wild wild west where every team just policed themselves or they straight up don't hide it anymore. Highest bidder gets favorable calls. Suck it Arizona and Ottawa. Leafs, Habs, Rags, Bruins, all the other big spenders pay for the extra help. In the event its between two rich teams, they have a 1 time bid for each ref and the ref goes to the highest bidder.

Now that's what I call hockey! I mean politics. I mean hockey.

I just would like consistency. One game every tiny thing is called and the next game nothing is called.

Also would really enjoy if the refs would stop trying to tie a game up. If you're winning you wont get any calls in your favour and if you are losing, seems like every tiny thing gets called against the other team.

Solution: Clone Wes McCaulley 119 times. Fire everyone else.

I think part of the problem if that the officiating crews vary from game to game. Different refs call the game differently and this often makes the officiating from one game to the next feel disjointed. Also, I would like to see improvements in how the officials are coached to make calls. Many poor calls are made because the official positioned himself to have a poor view of play like in game 6 of the finals last year. In addition, they need to quit letting the situation within a game can definitely affect what is or is not called. An infraction in OT or late in regulation should be called as often as it is called in the 1st period of play.

aren't we permeating all the time between

- bias for canadian teams
- bias for O6 teams
- bias for big market teams
- bias for small market teams (MUH BUTTMAN AND HIS DESERT PET PROJECTS)
- bias for star players
- bias against star players
- bias against canadian teams

I really lost track.

I also don't like the rule about if the officials don't see the play right at that second, they can't call it a few seconds too late.

I just wish the league would do as much to protect players as they do to protect sticks.
its bordering on ridiculous...

I keep seeing things get called in the 1st period, and then the same thing not getting called in the 3rd. I don't like that. No one does really, do they?