The First Rule of Game Management? Don't talk about Game Management

[Gollumpus]

9 hours ago, Nucksownyou said:

And people say we are being paranoid about how the refs constantly screw over the Canucks.

To be fair, this is evidence that this type of activity has affected more teams than just the Canucks. 

 

                                                        regards,  G.

[Gollumpus]

This situation brings to mind a scene from "The King of Hockey", an old film on hockey (surprise!).

 

There is a part where the star player is sent to the penalty box, which he doesn't mind because he can chat up the woman he is courting. The woman's little sister asks him, "Why aren't you skating?" His response is, "...That referee out there is penalty crazy."

 

When they showed this on HNIC (in segments over several weeks), they altered the scene just a bit, and when he makes the comment about the referee, the guys at the CBC inserted a few seconds of footage of Paul Stewart (the scene starts at 21:00ish, but sadly, doesn't include the Paul Stewart insert).

 

 

                                                              regards,  G.

[-SN-]

24 minutes ago, Nucksownyou said:

So, the league is not actually taking this seriously. Peel is just the scapegoat, but there are still others.

Correct. Too easy for the NHL here to just scapegoat a retiring guy, move on and pretend nothing happened and nothing's wrong. 

 

Make no mistake, Peel was 'disciplined' because he embarrassed the NHL. It has nothing to do with managing the game or integrity of the game, and everything to do with saying the quiet part out loud. 

[nux_win]

Is there anybody who watches hockey regularly who believes that Tim Peel was acting alone?  A lone bad apple?  C'mon NHL, we all know what's going on here.  They need to fire ALL the referees and start again.  Until that happens I'm not giving any of my money to the NHL.  I mean I still love hockey I just hate the NHL.  I've long suspected them of monkeying with the refereeing but now we have a tiny bit of proof.  But like I said to begin with, does anybody who watches hockey really believe that this is an isolated case?

 

Go Canucks Go!  (Go F yourself NHL)

[Slegr]

I understand why he was canned - he should never had actually said that. But honestly, game management has always been a part of their jobs. I’ve come to accept that, and actually can kind of understand it. Imagine if the Canucks were being particularly careless and got called for 8 infractions while the other team got none. We’d be outraged and calling for a ref’s head. That’s where game management comes in, whether you think it’s right or wrong. There’s a balancing out for the most part, and serious infractions are still called.

It’s far from a perfect system, but this is more than a sports business; it’s also an entertainment business. All of that said, some nights it seems like refs are more interested in hurting a team’s chances than trying to keep a game somewhat balanced and managed, and that’s where it becomes sour for me.

[Maniwaki Canuck]

7 hours ago, Azzy said:

 and independent referees are paid to officiate against those rules.

They already officiate "against" the rules!

[Wolfgang Durst]

19 minutes ago, Slegr said:

I understand why he was canned - he should never had actually said that. But honestly, game management has always been a part of their jobs. I’ve come to accept that, and actually can kind of understand it. Imagine if the Canucks were being particularly careless and got called for 8 infractions while the other team got none. We’d be outraged and calling for a ref’s head. That’s where game management comes in, whether you think it’s right or wrong. There’s a balancing out for the most part, and serious infractions are still called.

It’s far from a perfect system, but this is more than a sports business; it’s also an entertainment business. All of that said, some nights it seems like refs are more interested in hurting a team’s chances than trying to keep a game somewhat balanced and managed, and that’s where it becomes sour for me.

It was, but it shouldn't be part of their jobs. Their job is soley to enforce the rules. Period.

[ChuckNORRIS4Cup]

NHL is acting quick because they're scared.

[Maniwaki Canuck]

The league is a joke and Peel's offense here was only to say what everyone knows out loud.  Make-up calls are the least of it, although they are the beginning of the slippery slope into game management and outright corruption.  The main problem is the league's obvious disregard for its own rule book.  The league office regularly sends directives about what sorts of penalties to call, i.e. stick contact to hands, while others, i.e. boarding, get mothballed to accommodate the flavour of the month.  There are active and dormant rules, and constantly changing interpretations, all driven by the league office.  That much is obvious.  It's no wonder that people suspect that it extends into match-fixing as well.   

[brownky]

35 minutes ago, SNuck said:

Correct. Too easy for the NHL here to just scapegoat a retiring guy, move on and pretend nothing happened and nothing's wrong. 

 

Make no mistake, Peel was 'disciplined' because he embarrassed the NHL. It has nothing to do with managing the game or integrity of the game, and everything to do with saying the quiet part out loud. 

Which is typical for the NHL.

 

It's only about the money. 'Closer standings' mean more interested people, more eyes, more money.

 

I've said it for years, there's a hierarchy to how games are called, and... follow the money.

 

The Favourable call flowchart:

 

Original 6 US > O6 Canadian > "Sun Belt / California team > Lower market US Team > Non O6 Canadian team.

 

If any team is playing another 'higher' on the chart, the penalties will be disproportionate, greater with further distance between them.

 

 

To take the Canucks out of it, how often is McDavid whacked in the hands or legs as he just skates by somebody? Well, if it's a Flame doing it, he gets a call - they're equal on the flowchart. But if it's the Habs or Leafs? Probably not unless it's absolutely egregious or they've gotten away with 5-6 already.

 

And so it goes.

 

Tim Peel gets to fall on the NHL's sword for something they told him to do (and he said as much years ago in that interview). Talk about a **** organization.

[4petesake]

36 minutes ago, SNuck said:

Correct. Too easy for the NHL here to just scapegoat a retiring guy, move on and pretend nothing happened and nothing's wrong. 

 

Make no mistake, Peel was 'disciplined' because he embarrassed the NHL. It has nothing to do with managing the game or integrity of the game, and everything to do with saying the quiet part out loud. 

Just as further proof that the NHL is scapegoating Peel why is there no mention of who Peel was talking to? Obviously someone he feels comfortable enough to say it to knowing it’ll be acceptable and kept in confidence. Just as damning for the other person.

[Chickenspear]

11 minutes ago, 4petesake said:

Just as further proof that the NHL is scapegoating Peel why is there no mention of who Peel was talking to? Obviously someone he feels comfortable enough to say it to knowing it’ll be acceptable and kept in confidence. Just as damning for the other person.

99% chance it was Sutherland. You can hear the other guy saying "yeah, I know" while Peel is talking. I don't think that's the kind of thing you talk about outside of the "wall of striped silence"

[King Heffy]

If the league actually wanted to clean up the game they'd fire Sutherland too.

[Wolfgang Durst]

Matt Duchene's perspective:

 

After Viktor Arvidsson was called for tripping Jon Merrill on Tuesday, a voice was heard on the broadcast saying, "It wasn't much, but I wanted to get a &^@#in' penalty against Nashville early in the ..." before the audio cut out.

 

"He told our bench that, so I mean, really bizarre. I just think it can’t happen," Predators forward Matt Duchene said on the ‘Robby & Rexrode’ show on ESPN radio Wednesday morning. "Imagine the scenario where they score on that power play, we lose the game and we miss the playoffs by a point. Imagine that scenario. That can happen, right? That can happen based on — that’s not out of the realm of possibility. I don’t think there’s a place in hockey for that. You’ve got to call the game. I’ve always been frustrated when I see even-up calls."

 

Sums it up pretty good. Nothing more to say.

Edited March 24, 2021 by Wolfgang Durst

[EP Phone Home]

And the guy would happily retire like he originally planned. But because he was mic’d he loses the job and is painted as the Tim Donaghy of the NHL. The league hopes this story will go away but I hope they just opened Pandora’s times up box for them. The league needs to be investigated into the grass roots of the Colin Campbell’s of the NHL. That will take a lot of pull from owners to allow that to happen. At least the hockey world is woke today and hope the noise remains loud. We all knew it was happening, now we got the smoking gun and wire to prove it.

[4petesake]

3 minutes ago, Chickenspear said:

99% chance it was Sutherland. You can hear the other guy saying "yeah, I know" while Peel is talking. I don't think that's the kind of thing you talk about outside of the "wall of striped silence"

Exactly, and the NHL knows it and just Peel is gone. Crickets about Sutherland.

[KoreanHockeyFan]

58 minutes ago, Slegr said:

I understand why he was canned - he should never had actually said that. But honestly, game management has always been a part of their jobs. I’ve come to accept that, and actually can kind of understand it. Imagine if the Canucks were being particularly careless and got called for 8 infractions while the other team got none. We’d be outraged and calling for a ref’s head. That’s where game management comes in, whether you think it’s right or wrong. There’s a balancing out for the most part, and serious infractions are still called.

It’s far from a perfect system, but this is more than a sports business; it’s also an entertainment business. All of that said, some nights it seems like refs are more interested in hurting a team’s chances than trying to keep a game somewhat balanced and managed, and that’s where it becomes sour for me.

Well this kind of leads to a classic "did the chicken or the egg come first" argument. 

 

You could argue that no game management would've conditioned players to be careful at all times to not get penalized and be aware of the rules at all times - like I'm sure the players know game management exists and have trained themselves on how to play accordingly. Game management has probably incentivized players to play a certain way depending on who's "turn" it is to get a penalty. 

 

As for this issue in general, it looks like Tim Peel is just going to be the scapegoat for this entire thing. Unless the owners and/or players make a concerted effort to use this as an opportunity to point this out as a major problem, nothing is going to be done. At the very least, I hope journalists like Friedman and LeBrun ask the league some hard questions around this. 

Edited March 24, 2021 by KoreanHockeyFan

[NewbieCanuckFan]

6 minutes ago, 4petesake said:

Exactly, and the NHL knows it and just Peel is gone. Crickets about Sutherland.

Ron McLean says:  "But Burrows!".

[-Vintage Canuck-]

2 hours ago, theo5789 said:

 

 

 

The refs make weak calls on the ice, the league makes weak calls off the ice.

[Cromeslab]

Yea to me this looks like the league is trying to hush hush thIs under the rug,I hope it opens up a can of worms.