Quote:
Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist
You're about the only one that hates the "blame the ref" crap more than me, but come on refs. Jeff Marek on Sirius XM the other day said he was talking to some stats people about it and he gave the "I'm not one for conspiracy theories, BUT...". Calgary was the least penalized team for the year and a half before the Wideman incident and have become one of the highest (actually highest this year). He said the stats guys broke it down and the penalties that are responsible for the increase were calls like crosschecking that happen all game and only some are called
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Immediately after the Wideman incident I believed there was a conspiracy, but I thought it wound down after a few weeks and the reffing was reasonable for the rest of last season. This season the biggest issue is not the refs, it's the coaching and roster. Kris Russell replaced by Jyrki Jokipakka. Joe Colborne replaced by Alex Chiasson. David Jones replaced by Troy Brouwer. Jiri Hudler replaced by Matthew Tkachuk. Engelland is playing more minutes. The system is less passive and more physical. The team speed and skill level to draw penalties is lower. This is Treliving's team now.