With the National Hockey League playoffs about halfway through round one, and the debate over the leagues abysmal officiating continues, I would like to pose a question to you: Are on ice officials in the game of hockey, at highest level still needed?
The appearance of game management throughout the NHL has never been more apparent than in recent years. Bias and favouritism has run rampant through the league. Officials like Tim Peel were only let go because they happened to say the quiet part out loud. Gary Bettman and the NHL know this and they choose to do nothing about it, thus driving the on ice product down.
Now, I know what you're thinking, you sound nuts! No more changes to the game! What about the delay it would cause to the game? To those things I would say: the game is forever changing, you can't stop change just because you like the game the way it was played in the 80's and 90's. As for the delay it would cause on games? So? Technology is advancing at a rate where you can almost make split second decisions. If you removed officials and had a third party review all penalties, the standard cannot change and coaches and players would stop stepping out and speaking out against the NHL and its officiating.
