I watch hockey every day pretty much and this year I have noticed that the officiating has been horrible. What are your thoughts?

Yes it has been bad. Especially yesterdays Leafs vs. Islanders game

Omg that penalty shot was one of the worst calls I've ever seen.

Extremely inconsistent from game to game.

I feel officiating has been getting progressively worse as the years have gone on.

This doesn't excuse the poor officiating, but I think the rule book has become one big gray area. I honestly don't know what goaltender interference or a legal/illegal hit is anymore.

Yeah goalie interference used to be preventing the goalie from being able to make a save, now its pretty much if you touch the goalie the goal is disallowed even if the goalie had a chance to make the save, if the player touched him no goal. For example Nazem Kadri on Martin Jones on December 13 and Nazem Kadri on Roberto Luongo on December 28. Both of those "Goalie Interference" calls the goalies were able to make the save but they were touched. The league needs to revisit the rules on Goalie interference

The biggest problem with officiating is instant replay. We sit at home and criticize refs after seeing every call and non call 4 times, twice in slow motion, giving us lots of time to make a decision. It is important to remember that the speed of the game has progressively increased meaning the time a referee has to make a decision has decreased. If you have ever sat on the glass for a game (which i highly recommend) you get an understanding of how fast these guys move. The referees are going to miss things they are human and its inevitable but all in all they do a petty good job. And the goalie interference thing, it use to make sense.... before replay.