Expect Refs to Make ‘Overcompensation’ Calls After McDavid Fiasco

Anyone playing the Edmonton Oilers after Connor McDavid returns to the lineup against Seattle next week will be ready for whatever comes from officials. NHL insider suggested that teams who play the Oilers will be on ‘high alert’, either ready for makeup calls against them or odd calls for them. They’ll have to read and react on the fly.

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Friedman noted in his latest 32 Thoughts column:

“I was talking with another executive who said the Oilers and their opponents will be on high alert for how games are called in the aftermath. Do the Oilers get more power plays? Is there any bias against them? Teams worry about overcompensation. The situations are not comparable, but Calgary’s penalty count went from 30th to fourth after Dennis Wideman high-sticked a linesman in 2016. So the paranoia exists.”

The suggestion here is that some officials will have seen how McDavid’s situation came to be. They’ll do what they can to avoid it.

McDavid’s Suspension Has Shined a Light on Officiating

Friedman’s comments suggest that other officials know McDavid was held and interfered with, and no call was made. That led to McDavid’s frustration and a crosscheck on Conor Garland that cost him three games as a result of a suspension. McDavid admitted he shouldn’t have had that reaction, but thought the punishment was a bit harsh. Other stars around the NHL have suggested they thought it was harsh too, and no one wants the best player out of the games, even if the suspension was deserved. Sidney Crosby said, “You probably didn’t see the 9 hits that Connor took. Those ones are the ones that never make the highlights…”

McDavid said on Wednesday, “A penalty in the first is a penalty in the third, and a penalty in October is a penalty in April.” And, while McDavid has gotten good at pulling and holding guys to get around them, and the odd chicken wing or high stick gets missed, there are a lot more infractions against him than he commits. He wants them called and officials are likely going to watch a bit more closely now.

Expect a Swing in Calls Related to McDavid

Opponents now know one of two things will happen. First, officials will call every infraction a player makes on McDavid. Second, they’ll not love McDavid’s subtle call for fairness and try to teach him a lesson. It’s more likely the refs will try to limit the chances things get out of hand. As a result, the Oilers get a handful of additional power plays.

Will this lead to players backing off and not hooking, holding, and interfering? Time will tell. When informed that his team leads the league in offensive-zone puck possession time and that he personally leads in time with the puck, McDavid noted his confusion over the Oilers ranking 27th in power plays received, saying he couldn’t make sense of how that math adds up. NHL refs might try to even those numbers up a bit over the next few weeks.

Next: Scribe Identifies “Mattias Ekholm-Type Addition” for Oilers