If you're a fan of the NHL, you would agree with me that the officiating in the league has been worse than ever this season, and it appears despite many teams complaining about the frequent game deciding calls, it appears NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman doesn't see any sort of issue.
Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis has been warned after complaining about the refs in recent Canadiens games, including Saturday night when Anthony Cirelli ran the Habs goaltender Jake Allen and scored on the play, it was deemed a good goal. You can watch it down below.
There is no doubt in my mind about that being goaltender interference.
According to player agent Allan Walsh, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has given general managers around the league their final warnings.
"Bashing NHL officials will not be tolerated." - Gary Bettman
Walsh adds:
"I'm told the NHL's consistently horrible officiating (and often missed flagrant calls was a "hot topic" on the first day of the NHL General Managers' meeting today. The NHL kicked off the discussion by reminding General Managers that anyone who publicly criticizes officiating will be severely fined."
The message is pretty clear.
Here you can listen to the announcers go off on the officiating during the March 28th game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals.
Here is Martin St. Louis complaining about the recent officiating when he took questions from media following a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
The NHL has an officiating problem, and Gary Bettman threatening it's management for making notice of this is not the right move.
