CASST - Standards

The Problem
Each season, the NHL provides guidance to their referees as to what is a penalty and what is not a penalty when decisions are made at executive levels as to what rule changes or rule interpretation changes are required for the upcoming season.

Why is that a problem?  Well, I'll telly you why its a problem. 


The Rant
While the NHL has improved their sport decision-making (no comment on the business) with the introduction of the Competition Committee, they have a long way to go.  Look at it this way: 

You work for a company, any company.  Your employer publishes policies for their employees to follow - things like Expense Policy, Use of Internet Policy, Hiring Policy, etc.  That is how I see the NHL Rulebook.  They are RULES.  Not Guidelines.  RULES.  These are 'Musts', not 'Maybes'.  They are 'Always', not 'Sometimes'.  Frickin RULES.

Rules are used to keep a group of people (a company, a society, etc) informed of the level of behavior that is expected from them.  Also, they provides the people who are responsible for the enforcement of the rules (police, judges, REFEREES) with clear and defined requirements to judge whether actions  are considered in agreement with the rules or not in agreement AND the penalties associated with them.

How to Implement 
The NHL needs to implement a set of standards to govern several aspects of the Refereeing and Diciplinary systems.  A good first step would be to implement the set of standards that they already have without "interpreting" them.  If a rule needs to be changed, then change it.  Stop this insulting "Interpretation" business.


As for Discipline (which means fines and suspensions), they need to come up with an equivalent.  The NHL has to create a Disciplinary Standards book.  The Disciplinary Standards would provide the basis to define the NHL's Discipline policy, including the criteria for implementing particular punitive measures (when to fine, when to suspend, etc), how to assess the severity of the punitive measure to be taken (how big a fine, how long a suspension, etc), how to deal with unexpected items and how to change the standards.A committee must be formed to review the current procedures, review what other top-tier professional sports league do, what other hockey leagues do, andcreate a new Disciplinary policy.  That policy will then be used to create the Disciplinary Standards by the same committee.   This committee must be sponsored by the NHL Commissioner (Gary Bettman) but operate outside the regular machine of the NHL to ensure that impartiality.