Master Mind Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Source: nhl.com Stephen Walkom, one of the top referees in the National Hockey League, will be leaving the ice effective immediately to rejoin the management ranks as NHL Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating, the League announced today. Walkom, who held the same position between 2005 and 2009, replaces the retiring Terry Gregson. "We are fortunate to have someone with Stephen's on- and off-ice experience ready to step in to this position," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. "From 2005 to 2009, Stephen provided tremendous direction and guidance to our team of officials as the League implemented several rule changes that brought more flow and speed to our game. That management experience, combined with the fact that he has been back on the ice as a referee for the last four years, will be of tremendous benefit to the League and the game." The 49-year-old native of North Bay, Ontario, who joined the NHL officiating ranks in 1990, Walkom has been one of the NHL's top-ranked referees for the last several years. He refereed a total of 965 regular season and 139 Stanley Cup playoff games. He also worked the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and 2004 World Cup of Hockey as well as the 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. Walkom served on the Executive Board of the NHL Officials’ Association from 1993 to 2005, including a term as President before joining the League's front office in 2005. Walkom has consistently reached the highest level of officiating in various leagues throughout his career. He has worked in the Memorial Cup Final (Canadian Major Junior), Turner Cup Final (International Hockey League) and Calder Cup Final (American Hockey League). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRussianRocket. Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 I hope it helps but doubt it'll be effective much. There's a clear bias for certain teams (American teams) especially come playoff time and it's not surprise no Canadian team has won ever since Bettman took over....the further a Canadian team makes it in the post-season, the harder it is for them to win cause they for one get worn down and secondly, refs officiate that much more recklessly to get them out. Case in point: Canucks Cup run in 2011... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 http://sports.yahoo....-171302699.html The “yup, still got it!” phase of his career apparently over, referee Stephen Walkom has been promoted back to senior vice president and director of officiating for the NHL after leaving that post in 2009 to return to the ice. His replacement, Terry Gregson, announced his retirement on Wednesday. Gregson worked underWalkom before taking the NHL’s top officiating job in Sept. 2009. Under his watch, standards of enforcement on several penalties slipped, despite his labeling modernNHL officiating as there being “less gray area than there used to be.”Not to mention the scourge embellishment that has turned farcical in recent years. Gregson’s tenure had vocal critics, but that comes with the territory. So Walkom returns to the job. From the League: "We are fortunate to have someone withStephen's on- and off-ice experience ready to step in to this position," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. "From 2005 to 2009, Stephen provided tremendous direction and guidance to our team of officials as the League implemented several rule changes that brought more flow and speed to our game. That management experience, combined with the fact that he has been back on the ice as a referee for the last four years, will be of tremendous benefit to the League and the game." His return to the ice was marred by the most embarrassing moment of 2013 for the NHL that didn’t involve a work-stoppage or Ilya Kovalchuk. Walkom will be forever remembered for the matching minors on Kyle Quincey and Brandon Saad that negated a Niklas Hjalmarsson potential game-winning goal with less than two minutes remaining in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks went on to win in overtime – on Brent Seabrook’s game-winning goal, Dave Bolland of the Blackhawks appeared to get away with a boarding penalty on Gustav Nyquist, who gave up the puck – but the moment lives in infamy, including the fact that Walkom was allowed to officiate the following round after that folly. Hey, it’s good to have friends in high places … (Let's please note the irony that the official who bemoaned too much "gray area" in NHL officiating is being replaced by the guy who tarnished his reputation by calling matching minors "by the book" in a Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 7.) Say what you will about Walkom, but his time as the NHL’s head of officiating was, for the most part, positive for the League. When he wasn’t calling in favors to help his boss’s son, of course... From Scott Burnside back in 2009, citing Walkom’s work after the 2005 lockout: It was Walkom who worked with the league's 33 referees, 34 linesmen, teams and players to explain how the game was going to be called. And then, they made it work. It wasn't easy, but eventually the players learned to play within the new standards, and the game is as fast and entertaining as it's ever been. "The game is in a great place right now," Walkom told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "The officials' team is in a good place. We've really evolved as a team." Walkom joked that he made himself obsolete as the officiating changes have trickled down to all levels of hockey, meaning new generations don't have to relearn the standards. We sometimes lose sight on how dramatically the game changed after the 2005 lockout, because those rules changes have become commonplace. For many players and officials, it was practically re-learning the game from an offensive and defensive perspective, and some of them had to leave the NHL after becoming obsolete. Brendan Shanahan will forever be remembered as the catalyst for those new rules and, as an executive, the man who led an overhaul of the NHL’s supplemental discipline system. But Walkom did some very quiet, very heavy lifting in the years following the lockout. So it’s interesting to see him return to the role at a time when those standards of enforcement have, by the NHL’s own admission, slipped. But his return to upper management comes at a cost for Walkom. His heart wasn’t in the job anymore back in 2009 – it was back on the ice, where he had been an official since 1990. That’s what brought him back to wear the stripes, and one got the sense he was happy there. Perhaps his return was necessitated by Gregson’s departure. Perhaps Campbell asked him back to continue moving the League's standards of enforcement back to a consistent level. Whatever the case, Walkom gets his NHL HQ desk back and comes off the road, which will allow him towatch more of his daughter as a Penn State hockey player. The NHL loses a veteran official on the ice – those ranks are thin to begin with – but reacquires someone they trust as the league’s police commissioner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thLineGrinder Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 well, the officiating can't possibly get any worse than last season.... right......? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck_trevor16 Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 won't change a thing........ref will still be corrupt and anti-Canadian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Going from Gregson to Walkom is a step down. Majorly. Walkom is a stooge. Remember who it was that Papa Campbell felt it was best to complain to. That's right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 The seedy politics in NHL officiating continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 The seedy politics in NHL officiating continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Yeah, I'm actually pretty disgusted by this move. This actually shows that the NHL brass has learned nothing from their mistakes. Even having Colin Campbell release the statement from the league emphasizes that the NHL has no concept about the perception of conflict of interest. I'd like to think they're oblivious but I actually think they know exactly what they are doing and get a kick rubbing in the public's nose. The more I think about it the more pee'd off I get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Bearer Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Walkom is completely inept. He should fit right in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a Fool Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 This actually shows that the NHL brass has learned nothing from their mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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