The NHL’s ‘Game Management’ Is Out of Control

EDMONTON – The average team during the 2021 NHL Playoffs had the fewest penalties called per game in NHL History. Since the incident with veteran ref Tim Peel exposed the masses to the reality of ‘game management’ in the modern NHL, hockey fans have been starting to realize how unsafe the concept of game management can be.

The cause of this statistic isn’t because the game got cleaner or safer, in reality it is the exact opposite. The game has gotten significantly faster and as a result, has bigger hits and stronger players which can lead to more frequent and severe concussions. 

The primary cause is the steady decline of fighting majors. Which takes away an average of five PIM per game, but the actual impacts and hits still take place during scrums where hits to the head and checking are not penalized by the referees.

*24-Team Playoff format which had almost double the games played. 

Penalties like cross-checking and slashing are scarcely called during every playoffs, but this year saw some of the worst non-calls to date. The first round of the playoffs saw certain teams either just brawl out with next to no control or star players just be targeted and interfered with to the point where they can barely play the game. 

The point of having a set of rules that the NHL puts out is to make sure that every team has an even chance at winning the game. It also doubles as a means to ensure that the players on the ice are protected and to keep injuries to a minimum. This is why smashing your stick as hard as you can into another player’s back or body slamming Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher is illegal.

It escalates games until they get dangerously close to being out of control.

Enter officials, Chris Lee and Dan O’Rourke. They were the two officials in charge during the bloody Games 3 and 4 between the Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal Canadiens. After hockey fans were already sharing their grievances about Vegas not having a single penalty called on them in the game prior, as well as the overall lack of calls, they would wind up one upping the previous group and call next to nothing. This resulted in an incredibly dangerous game which allowed many high hits, slashing and dangerous cross checks with no penalties called during the third period and overtime.

This led to some scary hits and injuries that could have been avoided with proper management and penalization. Instead, the officiating crew opted to allow the game to escalate and swallow their whistles. Even after all the outrage, game four wasn’t much better with only one penalty apiece but was not much safer.

This is not how the sport of hockey should be played. The NHL has a 225-page rule book for the sole purpose of keeping players safe and allowing for a fair game of hockey to be played. The lack of officiating allows a bigger and more aggressive team to have a competitive advantage over any team following the rules. If the NHL wants a different set of rules for the playoffs, they should actually establish a separate rule book for the playoffs so fans and players alike can expect what is and isn’t a penalty.