NHL referee Ian Walsh’s call on what should have been a non-call in last night’s Blue Jackets/Oilers game has brought back the replay debate.
Walsh gave Jack Johnson of Columbus a four minute penalty when a stick came up and cut Oilers star Connor McDavid. The stick that cut McDavid belonged to Oiler teammate Milan Lucic, not Johnson.
How far do we want to go with coaches challenges and video reviews in pro sport?
The coaches challenge hurt the CFL’s product this year. Coaches were given additional challenges, and used them to grind games to a halt throughout the 2015-16 season. Let’s not take the flow out of NHL games with more challenges and video reviews.
Replays are necessary to get some calls right in professional sport. But if a defenceman in hockey or a receiver in football can have a bad day, so can an official.
Fans, coaches and players have to be more tolerant to human error in everyone on the ice, field or court.