A major issue here is that the NHL is a product if it's feeder systems, and junior hockey is rife with ref abuse, absolutely horrid evels of frequency and harshness that has a detrimental impact on these refs wanting to pursue the job.
This isn't a huge pool of individuals to draw from and the physical demands are considerable. To weed out even one or two potential officials has a seriously detrimental impact on the overall officiating quality we get as fans in the NHL.
To troutmans point about accountability or names on sweaters, I wonder if refs are maybe made too accountable to a league that does a poor job if backing them up. What's the standard on a given penalty? For years the league itself could not properly articulate the rules. What happened on the ice was more of a social agreement than a defined sport.
In some ways I think the officiating is better, in some ways it is worse.
I think if the existing group of officials had a clearer mandate to call penalties, stricter and more defined standards for infractions and minimal interaction with players and coaches outside if captains and alternates, we'd probably think the same group of refs are terrific.
Watching getzlaf intimidating and official following a legitimate penalty call just makes me feel bad for the stripes.
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