Here is a very smart piece on officiating in the NHL playoffs and how important it is to stay out of the penalty box. And how important it is to capitalize on your opportunities with a man advantage or be efficient in the penalty kill. This article also offers a good analysis on the officials and who calls what.
I was not surprised to see that we had the worst efficiency rating in power plays to penalty kills in the league during the playoffs and that the two finalists, the Penguins and Red Wings, are ranked number 1 and number 2. When you see we are last in terms of differential - we had 13 less power plays than penalties against - it is a wonder that we went to game 7 in Round 2 in the playoffs, isn’t it? Twenty-six minutes of being purely short-handed is a lot of time in the playoffs.
The Red Wings and the Penguins are gifted puck possession teams. They also drive to the net plus they get respect from the refs for the way they play.
This discipline to stay out of the penalty box and this talent to draw penalties and have the refs call them is a subtle yet important part of playoff success. We must improve in this area.
I appreciate that Babcock at least called out the media . . . Crosby’s face is EVERYWHERE. Babcock said that he sees so many Crosby commercials that he has to remind himself who exactly WON THE CUP last year! I am trying not to sound like a sore loser, but I feel as if the media and the refs are both so far up the Penguins’ behinds that it cannot go unnoticed. I feel sorry for Sid at times as he did not willingly become this “poster boy for the NHL.” However, not having been the MVP (or even in the running this year), not being a Stanley Cup champion, and not even being the best player on his line sure gets him a ridiculous amount of face time. What’s the deal, Bettman? This is damaging to the league.
A few comments:
(1) In fairness, Ted, I think we need to focus on PP/PK ratio rather than the difference in evaluating relative opportunity. We had a big aggregate difference in the first two rounds partially because we played 14 games. Calgary, Columbus, and Montreal all had lower ratios than we did, so we were really 13th out of 16 in relative opportunity.
(2) In looking at the regular season totals, in which the Caps didn’t fare very well either, we were in the middle of the pack (17th out of 30) in PP chances, and nearly the worst (28th out of 30) in number of penalty kills. Here of course, aggregate difference is much closer to relative difference because everyone plays the same, much larger number of games.
(3) Even though there is obviously room for improvement in staying out of the box — and we did commit a lot of needless and unthinking penalties during the year — what disturbs me more is the relative lack of penalties called on our opponents. During the regular season WE were a good puck control system against most teams, and WE had among the most dangerous set of offensive players in the league, players that other teams admitted on a regular basis were very tough to handle. If offensive attacking, puck possession, and threatening offensive players are what create penalty opportunities, for us to rank that low over the long term really seems like an anomaly. I can’t know if this is the case, but I suspect if you ask most Caps fans about officiating, they would be more concerned about the penalties not called on opponents than what was called against us.
(4) Concern about refereeing isn’t just about the absolute number of penalties called/not called, it’s when and under what circumstances as well. Obviously, the round 2 game 5 overtime debacle is exhibit A of that, and there it wasn’t the penalty that was called that was the issue, it was the earlier penalty on the Pens that wasn’t. It can credibly be argued that that situation was a huge turning point in the series, if not the deciding factor, and there was no reason for the stick thrust into Semin’s skate in open ice not to be called.
You’re right, we do need to be more disciplined. The Penguins played disciplined, they knew we could beat them on the PP, and they did a great job of not giving us enough PPs to work with. On the other hand we took lots of undisciplined penalties (Clark, Fedorov, etc).
And also, the refs aren’t out to get the Caps. I think refs generally give superstars the benefit of the doubt, but we have stars too. I think we got the benefit of most of the calls against the Rangers (except the game Brashear got kicked out).
As an owner, I realize that you have certain constraints placed upon you with regards to officiating. However, doesn’t something like Malkin not getting a “mandatory” 1 game suspension for instigating boil your blood a little?
There is such a clear double-standard with the enforcement of the rules from the top down, that it really makes you wonder how the system isn’t worse. It doesn’t surprise me to see that Caps lose a game 7 from goalie interference, and then Malkin gets out of jail free. Wings and Pens can play “playoff hockey”.. while the caps were penalized for farting sideways (interference, 2 min minor).
That last part was just a frustrated homer speaking.. but the league contradicts itself often. Hopefully, as an owner, you have some ability to voice the concerns of fans that hypocrisy at this level should not be tolerated.
Ted,
I’ll say this. The bias we face every year in officiating is making this whole thing a farce. They totally dropped all pretenses in the Pens/Caps series. I know as a businessman owning a franchise in a League, it’s not good business to point out the smelly elephant in the room.
But I’ve been a Caps fan for 3 decades. I’ve seen the bone-jobs going on in the playoffs against us for far too long to say that the blame lies with the Caps and how the Caps play.
I reject totally the notion that we should have to play the perfect game or the perfect series to overcome bad officiating and bias. The fact of the matter is that in a series as close as the Pens/Caps, the refs did make a difference. They made a huge difference. By protecting the Pens from our PP, they gave them the series. There is no question in my mind. And it’s not the first time we’ve been jobbed out of a series.
It’s getting downright disgusting. I have said this before — if you or Tarik or others wonder why Caps fans are “negative”. This is the #1 reason. Because we know that no matter what, in the end, we’ll get boned out of the enjoyment we’ve waited so long for of seeing our team hoist a Cup.
That will never change as long as the powers that be do the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil monkey dance.
Sapper
Andi, I’d love to agree with you on the officiating in the Caps/Pens series, but the bottom line is that we got outplayed in every game, including the ones we won, with the possible exception of Game 2. I’m not saying that the Pens did not get assists, but we need to earn the right to complain and did not come close in that series.
Btw, turns out my wife and I are having twin boys just before the start of next season. Anyone know where I can get a good package deal on Caps’ baby swag???
look at it this way…. take the fact that we may have had some questionable calls going against us, and obvious calls in our favor that were missed, add in several serious injuries still playing thier hearts out…… the fact that we still held our ground and took it to a game 7 only shows what we’re made of. we played 4 injured against thier 5 not so injured for a lot of minutes. we are truly superior. if the tables were turned the other way, we’d have swept them in 4.
Hi Ted,
Have to agree with what you’re saying, can’t win a game with guys in the box all the time. That being said we have a very young team, which is nice, but do you think it could benefit from an infusion of some more veteran presence? It has seemed to work for the teams playing today (Pitt & Det). I don’t mean sell the farm or our core players, but we all know we can’t hold onto every player we’ve drafted, sometimes help needs to come from outside the organization. Thanks for reading, and if you need an accounting student in the organization, I’d be glad to oblige.
Andrew
Hey ted, do you think we can get stars on the side of the hip padding? like the old uni’s used to?
“Respect” from the refs, huh? I guess that’s one way to put it…
I think that a lot of longtime hockey folks are sticking their heads in the sand with respect to one thing – the officiating quality. I’m sorry, the officiating in the Pens series was so one-sided it wasn’t funny, and I’m surprised at the number of people who claim it wasn’t.
This is not to say that we didn’t take penalties, because we did, and not taking penalties is an issue that needs to be addressed, absolutely. However, the Pens got away with murder out there, and at least one of the penalties we took was retaliatory because the Pens were allowed to do whatever they pleased and we had to defend ourselves somehow.
I thought it was just us until I watched part of the Canes series – the Canes were among the bottom three in penalties taken in the regular season, and yet the Pens got more power plays in the playoffs. How can people ignore that?
Ted,
You make some good points, and as a savvy owner, you cannot go on record talking about referee bias. As a fan, I can talk about it all I want and here is my point:
There is clearly some bias against the Caps. Sure, I’m a Caps fan and thus a “homer”, but you cannot convince me it is because of the Caps style of play that they are more penalized than the Pens. You will never make me believe that. If Mr. Bettman and his management crew are truly serious about the on-ice officiating, they need to do more. For instance, it’s very clear the NHL players represent the world community. There are players from all over Europe. How many on-ice officials are Swedes, Russians, Finnish, etc.? In the first place, if this were any other normal business, you know full well there would be pressure exerted to bring some balance so that every on-ice official was NOT Canadian or American. Secondly, just exactly what is the NHL doing to ensure the fan base the on-ice officials are “beyond reproach” from accepting bribes? How do we know this ISN’T true? For instance, are on-ice officials subjected to background checks, polygraphy, does the NHL utilize aggressive methods of double-checking to ensure everything possible is done to mitigate corruption? Lastly, there is very little in the way of clear uniformity. For instance, in game 7 of last year’s playoff loss to the Flyers, there was no goalie interference — this year, in a non-Caps playoff game, we saw the same thing with a different outcome.
Nope, “it ain’t fair” and needs to improve. What is Mr. Bettman doing about this?
Sorry for the polite rant….
For the last two years I’ve tracked this at an individual level, calling it “Penalty Plus/Minus” (how many penalties you draw minus how many you commit).
In the 2007-8 season, Alex Ovechkin was 4th in the league in this measure, with a +35 differential:
http://www.ontheforecheck.com/2008/04/penalty-plusminus-final-numbers.html
This year, Brooks Laich led the Caps with a +19:
http://www.ontheforecheck.com/2009/4/13/833111/nhl-penalty-plus-minus-2008-9
For some players, this ability to generate power plays for their team makes a significant contribution to the overall team performance!