Offside challenges

[Cowtownguy]

Last night the Oilers played the Predators and put out a relatively solid effort. They ended up losing the game 2-1, but they had scored a nice looking goal to tie the game. Upon review, it was called back. It was one of those plays where the front skate is over the line while the back skate is not. The back skate, however, was an inch or two off of the ice. Technically, the officials made the right call. I don't think anyone is disputing that. 

 

McDavid, however, criticized the call arguing that the officials are simply calling offside too closely. On the one hand, I think we should commend the officials for being detail oriented. On the other hand, I think that McDavid makes a good point. I mean, they go through all of the effort to create some offence score, just to have it called back because a person's skate was an inch off of the ice. I believe that they needed video review to even determine whether the guy was offside or not.

 

I think that McDavid is right. Fans want to see talent shine. The whole reason for the offside penalty in the first place is to prevent cherry picking. It accomplishes the objective. You never see cases where a guy comes in 5 feet offside and the goal counts. But now, we have great plays ruined because the cameras can detect skate placement with greater precision than ever. It seems to me that if the referees cannot see it is offside in real time, then it should not be determined by a camera. I am also unbelievably sick and tired of every fricken goal being reviewed. Last night, many of our players were off of the ice and they started a review. Sheesh. Give it a rest already.

 

I don't think that the Oilers were going anywhere this year. Perhaps some of them thought that there was still a chance of pulling off a winning streak and getting into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. It seems a shame to lose what they think is an important game because of a close call like this.

 

Anyways, if they are going to continue on like this, I want the goal reviewed against Tampa when we actually won the cup and had it stolen from us. 

 

[CheersMan]

Everyone heard what Duhatschek had to say on this today and I agree with a lot of what he had to say.  As a fan, I’m prepared to remove the off-side video review entirely.  Maybe start by rolling it back to game ending goals only.  If a game ends on a suspected offside, review it as we do now, but allow skates to be air borne crossing the blue-line.

[Cowtownguy]

7 minutes ago, CheersMan said:

Everyone heard what Duhatschek had to say on this today and I agree with a lot of what he had to say.  As a fan, I’m prepared to remove the off-side video review entirely.  Maybe start by rolling it back to game ending goals only.  If a game ends on a suspected offside, review it as we do now, but allow skates to be air borne crossing the blue-line.

I did not hear what he had to say about this. I will look it up as he is one of the few reporters I respect. He is thoughtful about most issues. The only reason I like the offside review is that I can recall a few times when there were egregious errors made by linesmen. Maybe they just started watching the game. With the review, it feels like the officials are being picky or punitive. I also wonder if the challenges more generally relieve the on ice officials of responsibility, so they don't make the hard calls like they used to.

 

Maybe I am just getting old and cranky, but officiating seems to be getting worse the last few years. I used to really be impressed with how well they did especially compared to European officials. I think that the Europeans do a better job today.

 

Sometimes the NHL reminds me of my workplace. "You think you have problems now!? Just wait until we fix them."

[CheersMan]

20 minutes ago, Cowtownguy said:

I did not hear what he had to say about this. I will look it up as he is one of the few reporters I respect. He is thoughtful about most issues. The only reason I like the offside review is that I can recall a few times when there were egregious errors made by linesmen. Maybe they just started watching the game. With the review, it feels like the officials are being picky or punitive. I also wonder if the challenges more generally relieve the on ice officials of responsibility, so they don't make the hard calls like they used to.

 

Maybe I am just getting old and cranky, but officiating seems to be getting worse the last few years. I used to really be impressed with how well they did especially compared to European officials. I think that the Europeans do a better job today.

 

Sometimes the NHL reminds me of my workplace. "You think you have problems now!? Just wait until we fix them."

I heard Erik on fan960 driving home tonight, he wants the video review gone altogether.  Whether a players skate blade is a centimeter before or after the line it does not effect his torso in relation to the play.  The game winning goal and air borne skate was my two cents worth.

Officiating and lines man have a tough job, and its not for me.  I used to cringe when they called my number (parent) to man the lines at my kid’s soccer game.  Who touched to ball last before it went out of play?  I don’t know, I was right there watching but not sure who touched it last as it bounced bounced out of play.  LOL.

The down time and momentum killers these reviews cause may not be worth it.  Maybe live with the very occasion missed call instead. 

How about those times where you have a close play at the blue-line and the play continues on?  I find myself thinking from that point on that what I’m watching could be meaningless because if they score, its going to be called back anyway, and it could be minutes later.  That’s not right.

[Heartbreaker]

They should totally do away with this. It has been very disruptive, and I don't see the upside. So much kerfuffle because Matt Duchene scored one goal that shouldn't have counted.

 

Love. 

[Carty]

2 hours ago, Heartbreaker said:

So much kerfuffle because Matt Duchene scored one goal that shouldn't have counted.

 

                

[travel_dude]

Boo Hoo Hoo.

I didn't hear him say jack squat last season when TMac would challenge every marginal offside on scoring plays.  He won his share. It was a good delay tactic last year because it only cost you a time out.  They eliminated the loss of timeout and turned it into a penalty this year.  Very few have been challenged over the course of the season.

 

So now we have a star player calling it dumb, while all the GM's and PA agreed to it.  

 

Every team has the same advantages.  McDavud can suck it.

[Cowtownguy]

12 hours ago, travel_dude said:

Boo Hoo Hoo.

I didn't hear him say jack squat last season when TMac would challenge every marginal offside on scoring plays.  He won his share. It was a good delay tactic last year because it only cost you a time out.  They eliminated the loss of timeout and turned it into a penalty this year.  Very few have been challenged over the course of the season.

 

So now we have a star player calling it dumb, while all the GM's and PA agreed to it.  

 

Every team has the same advantages.  McDavud can suck it.

Every team is going to exploit the rules in place regardless of whether they are well thought out or not. I would like to see effective rules in place. It would be unfortunate if a team's playoff fortunes were decided, in part, by a skate blade 5mm from the ice surface. 

[travel_dude]

17 minutes ago, Cowtownguy said:

Every team is going to exploit the rules in place regardless of whether they are well thought out or not. I would like to see effective rules in place. It would be unfortunate if a team's playoff fortunes were decided, in part, by a skate blade 5mm from the ice surface. 

 

Remember that the evidence has to be conclusive.  My only issue is who does the review.  For the most part, the linesmen do a fantastic job, but they do miss stuff.  Asking them to do the review was never a good idea.  Maybe it goes to TO now, but I think it's still the on-ice guys.

 

We've been burned by it last year.  We benefitted from at least one review this year.  It evens out.  Not that many teams call for it, and it can be a costly mistake.  JK's skate was more than 5mm off the ice in this case.  

 

To me, there are far more grievious issues about calls.  The "intent to blow the whistle", the "puck was traveling into the net unimpeded - after whistle", high stick on a deflected goal, glove-in-net-puck-under-glove-no-proof-other-than-logic call, etc.

 

A single player's comments that were made after he loses a must-win game should not be any reason to call for a Royal Commission.    

[Cowtownguy]

5 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

 

Remember that the evidence has to be conclusive.  My only issue is who does the review.  For the most part, the linesmen do a fantastic job, but they do miss stuff.  Asking them to do the review was never a good idea.  Maybe it goes to TO now, but I think it's still the on-ice guys.

 

We've been burned by it last year.  We benefitted from at least one review this year.  It evens out.  Not that many teams call for it, and it can be a costly mistake.  JK's skate was more than 5mm off the ice in this case.  

 

To me, there are far more grievious issues about calls.  The "intent to blow the whistle", the "puck was traveling into the net unimpeded - after whistle", high stick on a deflected goal, glove-in-net-puck-under-glove-no-proof-other-than-logic call, etc.

 

A single player's comments that were made after he loses a must-win game should not be any reason to call for a Royal Commission.    

I hear what you are saying and you raise some important problems. I guess I lack confidence in the officiating these days. It seems to me that the challenges are unfair because they relieve some responsibility from the on ice officials. If they make a mistake, then Toronto can take the responsibility because it could have been reviewed. That is troublesome when refs feel the heat from homers. It is also problematic when there are so many evenly talented teams in a cap situation with Bettman points.