NHL PR: NHL Senior Executive VP of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell announced Tim Peel no longer working NHL games because of the comments he made during last night’s Detroit Red Wings – Nashville Predators game.
“Nothing is more important than ensuring the integrity of our game,” Campnbell said. “Tim Peel’s conduct is in direct contradiction to the adherence to that cornerstone principle that we demand of our officials and that our fans, players, coaches and all those associated with our game expect and deserve. There is no justification for his comments, no matter the context or his intention, and the National Hockey League will take any and all steps necessary to protect the integrity our game.”
Maybe if you’re a mic’d up ref, you shouldn’t express how you wanted to call a penalty against a team earlier in the game, changing how you ref the rest of the game.
“It wasn’t much but I wanted to get a fuckin’ penalty against Nashville early in the…”#Preds #LGRW pic.twitter.com/6fZImkdqLr
— Matt Best (@bestofmatt) March 24, 2021
Luke Fox: Matt Duchene on ESPN 102.5: “The crazy part is, he was talking to Fil Forsberg in that clip…. I don’t think there’s a place in hockey for that. You have to call the game.”
Thoughts from the media
Elliotte Friedman: “To add some context to this, Peel was scheduled to retire later this season. His final game was April 24. Still think it’s a big punishment…taking that away from him.”
Ray Ferraro: “1) I find it interesting the outrage of many about Tim Peel and his comment. Many subscribe to “refs get in the way, shouldn’t call so many penalties or they let too many go”…those ideas quickly lead to make up calls. My thought is to simplify it all. Call the rule book.
Empower-support the officials to know the league has their backs – they can call confidently the game. Players adjust and learn, there will be less noise in the officials head. And in a tie game when your team gets a late deserved hooking call, that is the way it should be.”
Gord Miller: :100%. And a penalty in the first minute of the first period is a penalty in the last minute of the third period. Stop “managing” the game.”
Carlo Colaiacovo: “Good Luck trying to get anyone in hockey to wear a hot mic again. I played my whole career knowing that referees controlled the game and make up calls was a part of it. I never thought this would be the end result.”
Eric Engels: “I would hope Tim Peel’s firing is the initial change that sparks a series of them aimed at just getting penalties called. See a penalty, call a penalty. Some real accountability is in order, too; this system needs an overhaul. Otherwise Peel truly is just a scapegoat.
- I don’t think the players and coaches want the game to be “managed” either. They wouldn’t be screaming at the officials for every missed call if they did. They want consistency. And they’re understanding that some things are going to be missed, that the refs are only human.
- And since every game has a supervisor assigned to it, do something about it when too much gets missed. Own it.
Arpon Basu: “I personally would have considered mentioning in the statement that the NHL intends to address the issue of make-up calls with the entirety of its officiating crew so that it doesn’t exist anymore. Tim Peel just got caught saying out loud what many officials think all the time.”
Joe McDonald: “A few season ago, I was having a conversation with a current NHL player about how to make the game more entertaining. When I suggested putting a mic on every player, he quickly said: “We would all end up in jail or suspended permanently.”