Seravalli: NHL Officiating a topic of conversation on Day 1 at GM Meetings

MANALAPAN, Fla. — For the first time since the germination of the pandemic that shook the world – and halted the hockey world – the 32 stewards of the game gathered once again.

All 32 NHL GMs together in one room. Finally.

In the 24 months since the last General Managers Meeting in Florida, 11 new faces joined the club – most recently Chicago’s Kyle Davidson – and an entire new franchise entered the chat.

”It’s nice to see everybody again,” Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said.

”It really is refreshing,” NHL executive Vice President Colin Campbell said.

And as much as things (and people) change, much stays the same.

Among the items on the agenda on Day 1 on Monday were updates on officiating from senior vice president and director of officiating Stephen Walkom, then George Parros from the Department of Player Safety, also a presentation from the NHL Alumni Association, and a panel conversation with Vice President Kim Davis and Respect Group founder Sheldon Kennedy and GMs about abuse, bullying and discrimination.

One of the hot button issues was officiating, where there is almost never a shortage of complaints.

Officiating Update

The NHL’s officials have been under fire this season, there is no doubt about that. Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog blasted the referees earlier this month, the same night officials missed a blatant holding penalty on Toronto’s Auston Matthews in overtime against Arizona.

Walkom made his usual presentation and general update on officiating, addressed any potential concerns, and walked GMs through the evaluation process from games.

Contrary to popular belief from fans and teams, there is a standard review for all games. Managers were reminded that calls (and non-calls) are logged from every game and missed calls are addressed directly with the officials involved in the game.

Managers were also polled on a number of different scenarios, with the room asked to provide feedback on whether a certain call should be made in that scenario.

”Sometimes you wonder, going into these meetings, when they’re going to erupt, because races are so tight – particularly in the West,” Campbell said. “I think we’re all concerned about what’s going on in the playoffs because losers in the first round aren’t going to be happy. A lot of the preparations in this meeting is about various things that might bring controversy [in the playoffs].”

The NHL may have braced itself, but managers said the temperature in the room was actually pretty cool.

Breaking news: the NHL admitted that, like any sport, its officials don’t always get it right.

“It’s not perfect,” Dubas said. “They recognize that. I think that was the one thing that Stephen did, that was made clear there – the game goes by so fast. We’re not perfect: management, coaches, players. I think the positives are, when you talk to Stephen, after you cool down, he’s generally very good at going over the things that they’re going through.”

Monday provided a healthy dose of perspective for all.

”I laughed at the beginning because I know it’s always a hot topic,” Dubas said. “But everyone’s trying their best to get it right. No one wants to be in the game and make a big mistake. There’s really no one ever happy with it. You’re only unhappy with it. You win a game, and everything has gone fairly well, you’re not crediting the officiating. You’re crediting your team. When things go poorly – and we’ve had moments like that this year – it’s easy to look at the officiating and say it’s got to be on them. When it’s really, you put yourself in a position where one call could make and dictate the difference in the game.

”Do I have issues with it from time to time? Everybody in every sport does have issues with the officiating. When you remove the emotion from the game, I think you understand. Not everyone is perfect. We certainly make more mistakes than anybody.”

Loose Line Changes

Daily Faceoff analyst Mike McKenna keyed in on a rogue line change executed by the Anaheim Ducks in overtime on March 6 against the San Jose Sharks.

Adam Henrique came off the ice after winning a face-off and Rickard Rakell jetted out the door at the opposite end of the ice, just over the blue line, to streak in for the OT winner.

McKenna called it the “chiseler” change, where the home team uses a set play to gain an advantage based on the line change.

The Ducks got away with the call that night. But the entire sequence was shown to the GMs on Monday and they voted that yes, that was an illegal line change.

Managers were reminded that all substituting players must be within five feet of each other when executing a line change, something that must be eyeballed by the referees on the ice.

Rescinding Major Penalties

On multiple occasions this season, the NHL’s officials have huddled together in front of the referee’s crease and deliberated a play where an injury occurred.

The question: Should we issue a major penalty to afford ourselves the ability to review it on video and make sure we did not miss anything egregious?

On more than a handful of occasions, an injury has occurred where there was frankly no foul at all. But once a major penalty is issued, it can only currently be reduced to a two-minute minor penalty.

The NHL’s GMs spoke in favor of handing referees the ability to rescind the penalty all together, allowing for the possibility that no infraction is called at all. The NHL has also recognized that might also open up Pandora’s Box, where all questionable calls can be reviewed, and that is not the intention.

But it’s possible that the NHL moves forward to be able to rescind a major penalty.

”At least they get a chance to review it,” Campbell said. “When it comes to the playoffs, we’re always looking at and preparing for the playoffs, ‘What if?’ Game 7 in the playoffs. Probably should have been nothing. We’re happy now, but it will be good conversation.

“They talk about it, we table it, come back to the June meeting, take it to the competition meeting, and the board meeting and then ratify it with the general managers.”

$25,000 fines for Coaches

The NHL’s GMs were more or less zen about officiating on Monday – and for good reason. They were reminded by Campbell toward the end of Monday’s meeting that they also can be fined for comments critical of the league, particularly about officiating.

A number of teams have been incensed this season about what they felt like were harsh and over the top $25,000 fines of their coaches for incidents in which they were critical or caught on camera berating officials during a game from the bench.

”There’s always comparables – ‘why this guy and why not my guy?’ We go through and watch everything happening and it finally reached a point where enough is enough,” Campbell said. “I’ve been there once in my life and you know when you’ve crossed. They know when they’ve crossed the line.”