For Those Of You Who Believe Reffing Is Biased Against The Canucks, Look At This From The Nhl Website.

[ECross]

This is of course for those of you who look at things objectively and make judgements accordingly. If you are going to come into this with your subjective biases, there is no hope for you anyway so you might as well not bother with all this.

This is time on the PP minus time on the PK for this season. If anyone has reason to complain, it is the Colorado Avalanche. Look at that differential, the Avs have had about the same time spent on the PK as Vancouver, and yet, when you factor in calls that go their way, they have spent 60 MINUTES more killing penalties than Vancouver. I watch every Avs game, and nearly every Vancouver game, and in all honesty, the penalties are much more lopsided night in and night out against Colorado than they are for Vancouver.

And for those of you who will argue that Colorado is just a bad team and therefore are not able to draw penalties to get PP's, there is no way they are THAT much worse (as these stats show) and still able to be in playoff contention. It just would not happen.

1. Car: 87:55

2. Cbj: 87:20

3. Fla: 72:16

4. SJS: 61:36

5. Chi: 57:56

6. Tor 42:29

7. Det 38:42

...

13. NYI: 10:58

14. Buf: -0:53

15. Cgy: -3:28

16. Bos: -5:31

17. NJD: -7:11

...

23. Stl -34:48

24. Edm -35:10

25. Van -40:51

26. Wpg: -43:56

27. Was: -46:09

28. Ott: -64:34

29. Dal: -64:57

30. Col: -103:38

Here is the link:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/teamstats.htm?fetchKey=20122ALLSAAAll&sort=teamPenaltyDetail.powerplayMinusPenaltyKillSeconds&viewName=penaltyKillTime

[Shift-4]

I don't think they are biased against the Canucks.

I just know, from watching a lot of hockey, that they are incompetent, inconsistent and sometimes blatantly ignorant to what happens on the ice.

[DooBie604]

Looking at that it actually appears that aside from Toronto, the refs don't like Canadian teams in general. Only Toronto is in the plus column.

[TotesMagotes]

Thanks for this, i myself can't stand the reffing, not because i think they are biased against the Canucks, but because league wide the way the refs call the games is completely situational.

A call they would make in the beginning of the game may not be one they would call with 5 minutes to go in a close game. There is no consistency and no one knows what a penalty is anymore. This leads to confusion and frustration for everyone, not just the canucks and their fans.

[woot]

Not surprised Chicago is 5th after that last game.

[irani1378]

the refs are bad for both sides... last night there was a stupid penalty on Bickel (i think it was him) for a little face wash on Kassian, the refs also missed a too many men on the ice against Vancouver, and a goaltender interference against Chicago

[irani1378]

the refs are bad for both sides... last night there was a stupid penalty on Bickel (i think it was him) for a little face wash on Kassian, the refs also missed a too many men on the ice against Vancouver, and a goaltender interference against Chicago

[Geoff Peterson]

It's funny how they seem to miss the obvious, but totally screw up the blatant...'CBS CARES'

[Dotcommi]

Its strange how our elite players (IE the twins) can get cross checked from behind with no call. Would that happen to the likes of Crosby, Datsyk, Zetterburg,Kessel, or Stamkos? I think not. I can understand allowing the obstruction to slow down the game to prevent injuries. How does that explain allowing hits from behind on two the the most talented players on one the NHL's biggest market teams? Its only a matter of time until one or both of the twins will have a major injury from being hit from behind into the boards. Then the NHL will tell us that they didn't see this coming and how there is no bias against the Canucks ....right.

[Shift-4]

the refs are bad for both sides... last night there was a stupid penalty on Bickel (i think it was him) for a little face wash on Kassian, the refs also missed a too many men on the ice against Vancouver, and a goaltender interference against Chicago

[Beluga Whale]

Seeing to bad teams at the top, makes you wonder doesn't it? And just to throw it out there; all Canadian teams are down near the bottom, except obviously Toronto.

[Max-a-Million]

I watch mostly Vancouver games and so only have an opinion on the reffing against Vancouver. It seems the refs are quick to give Hank penalties but refuse to call many penalties against him when he's working the boards and is constantly getting his feet pulled out from under him or when he takes cross checks to his lower back, usually knocking him down. Perhaps they consider this normal, on the boards, scramble and not worth a penalty.

I don't think the refs are intentionally biased, I think they are trying to work a very fast moving game and have less tha a 1/10 of a second to decide a call. Once the arm goes up, they can't take it down. I don't know of a better way to manage the game though and each team has to play the game based on how they determine the refs are calling it.

In spite of what you all call bad reffing, the Canucks are still going to be in Season #2 starting in April and if they score more goals than the other teams each game, they'll come out on top. The refs don't own the game. Give it a rest belly achers!

[Airjasper]

The refs are just incompetent and inconsistent. I've dropped the conspiracy theories. It really is this simple.

[Raiun]

It can't be biased against the Canucks AND against the Avalanche? If there is any kind of bias at all, there's no one saying it has to be against only one team in the league.

Actually those numbers you posted paint a really interesting picture. Why is the discrepancy so high? Using the Avalanche as an example, since it's the worst, to get to 100 minutes spent on the PK over minutes spent on the PP, you'd need to get 50 minor penalties, or some lesser combination of minor and major penalties. That's a loooot of penalties. Are they just the dirtiest team in the league? Do they just never get powerplays because every team plays like saints against them?

On the other side of the scale, Carolina being having the most powerplay minutes over their penalty kill minutes.. Carolina certainly is not a team full of saints. Are they just really good at drawing penalties? What's going on there?

Realistically, most of these teams play very similar games. Some are a bit more physical and intense, and should be more likely to take penalties. Some of these teams are more skilled and rely on finesse, they should be more likely to draw penalties.

So let's take the Canucks and Detroit, two teams that play a very similar game, based around skill and finesse. Why is Detroit positive 40 and Canucks are negative 40? Well, one obvious answer (which might be right or wrong) is that Vancouver is just a dirtier team. That's possible, but look at what other teams are around that number. Edmonton? St Louis? Colorado is worst by far, I don't think anyone would call them excessively dirty. So something else must be going on. Another obvious answer (again, might be right or wrong) is that the refs are just biased. Once you get that idea in your head, it starts to be really easy to pile on evidence and arguments in favor of that conclusion.

Refs are human, humans are always biased no matter what they do, Refs are biased. Okay, that argument works just fine, but of course humans are capable of putting aside bias, like courtroom judges are supposed to, so maybe refs can too. Problem is that judges have accountability, and it is public. Refs in the NHL right now do not appear to have any accountability, and if they do, it's not public apparent what kind of accountability they have.

So people have no reason to believe they are trying to be fair, because all they see is how unfair they are being.

[ccc44]

The NHL is a bush league , They put rules in the place but cant even follow them.

You dont know what your going to get game to game

[realnucksfan2010]

I have been around hockey since i was three years old, i am 34 now. I thought last season was the worst officiating had ever seen but this year takes the cake!!!!!

I believe that the reason for the bad reffing lies on bettman and Shanahan.

They have implemented so many rule changes that the on ice officials have no clue what a penalty is anymore, i mean i have never seen so many four man ref confrences to discuss wheather or not there was actualy a penalty in my life!! We have the advantage of t.v. we get to see the best angles. I was a ref in juniour hockey for a season and quit. The hardest job i have ever had because you don't see everything and when you blow a call, the safest place is at center ice where the fans can't hit you with beer and other stuff.

Not siding with the refs because it has been bad but just sayin they don't have strict guidlines for calls it is up to their interpretation of what transpired!!!!

The League needs to stop messing with the game,put it back to the way it was, and fire bettam(AKA PEEWEE HERMAN) and put someone with some form of a brain in charge!

Taking fighting out of the game will be the last straw for me, if that happens the game will turn into one gigantic sward fight, no one will be safe! there will be more concussions than you can fathome!

[Wheels22]

Refs are just plain bad

[Mookie Wilson]

This is of course for those of you who look at things objectively and make judgements accordingly. If you are going to come into this with your subjective biases, there is no hope for you anyway so you might as well not bother with all this.

This is time on the PP minus time on the PK for this season. If anyone has reason to complain, it is the Colorado Avalanche. Look at that differential, the Avs have had about the same time spent on the PK as Vancouver, and yet, when you factor in calls that go their way, they have spent 60 MINUTES more killing penalties than Vancouver. I watch every Avs game, and nearly every Vancouver game, and in all honesty, the penalties are much more lopsided night in and night out against Colorado than they are for Vancouver.

And for those of you who will argue that Colorado is just a bad team and therefore are not able to draw penalties to get PP's, there is no way they are THAT much worse (as these stats show) and still able to be in playoff contention. It just would not happen.

1. Car: 87:55

2. Cbj: 87:20

3. Fla: 72:16

4. SJS: 61:36

5. Chi: 57:56

6. Tor 42:29

7. Det 38:42

...

13. NYI: 10:58

14. Buf: -0:53

15. Cgy: -3:28

16. Bos: -5:31

17. NJD: -7:11

...

23. Stl -34:48

24. Edm -35:10

25. Van -40:51

26. Wpg: -43:56

27. Was: -46:09

28. Ott: -64:34

29. Dal: -64:57

30. Col: -103:38

Here is the link:

http://www.nhl.com/i...penaltyKillTime

[AllHailSmyl]

The quality of calls made by referee's has been terrible for the last portion of the season, and not just in Canucks games. The Avs/Flames game the other night had significant calls missed for both sides, and this coming from a fan who loves to watch the Flames lose. At least let them lose fair!

[Shift-4]

Wouldn't a successful PP help put a team in the negative?