ARLINGTON, VA — The NHL rulebook is, by and large, a pretty dry document. Clocking in at 232 pages, the league spells out the minute details of the game in all their glory, from rink measurements to faceoff procedure.
One often-forgotten rule, however, has recently garnered attention from around the hockey world purely for its entertainment value: player referees.
Games can continue even down a referee — a somewhat common occurrence if an official gets injured — but what happens if too many officials are missing? Per NHL rule 31.11, if the league can’t find suitable alternatives, one last-ditch solution is for each team to appoint a player to don the stripes:
If, through misadventure or sickness, the Referees and Linespersons appointed are prevented from appearing, the League will make every attempt to find suitable replacement officials, otherwise, the Managers or Coaches of the two Clubs shall agree on Referee(s) and Linesperson(s). If they are unable to agree, they shall appoint a player from each side who shall act as Referee and Linesperson; the player of the home Club acting as Referee and the player of the visiting Club as Linesperson.
If the regularly appointed officials appear during the progress of the game, they shall at once replace the temporary officials.
The rule gained prominence after being dug up by Islanders fan Nicole Shirman last week, surprising even NHL players.
“No way. That’s a rule?” Ethen Frank said to RMNB. “I had no idea that was a rule.”
So, if it came down to it, who would the Capitals nominate? Just about every player had a different answer.
“It needs to be somebody with the courage to get yelled at for 60 minutes,” Pierre-Luc Dubois told RMNB. “I’d probably go Chucky (Charlie Lindgren).”
Dubois laughed.
“Chucky would be my answer, 100%. I don’t think anybody else could.”
Dubois’ answer reflected a theme around the locker room: players picked teammates they thought would call the game fairly. Frank pointed to Tom Wilson — whose father is a referee in the Greater Toronto Hockey League — as someone who takes a fairly level-headed approach to penalties.
“I’d probably have to say Willy,” Frank said. “It probably would have been Johnny (John Carlson) when he was here, for sure. But, yeah, I think Willy would do a great job. He doesn’t take any s***, and he calls a fair game.
“Even when we take penalties during a game and guys are complaining at the refs, he’s like, ‘No, that’s a penalty. You’ve got to be honest with yourself.’ So, yeah, Willy’s probably at least the most honest about it. I’m sure some guys would give us more power plays than others, for sure.”
Who would be the worst at it?
“Probably Dewey,” Frank said. “Dewey or Leno. They think everything’s a penalty. Yeah, that’s probably those two. I don’t include the goalies on that. Those two would probably take the cake.”
Hendrix Lapierre had to think on the question for a while, standing back up to survey the locker room, before he named noted heavyweight Dylan Mcllrath, citing the fear factor.
“I would pick Mac,” he decided. “Because I feel like players would have a lot of respect for him. They wouldn’t mess around. And I feel like he’d be pretty fair.”
Lapierre’s right about one thing: it’s hard to imagine many players would start trouble with referee Dylan McIlrath. As Lapierre gave his answer, though, Dylan Strome piped up to disagree, starting a debate between the two.
Dylan Strome: Does he know all the rules though?
Hendrix Lapierre: Mac knows the rules, yeah. Who would you pick?
Dylan Strome: Me.
Hendrix Lapierre: What do you mean you? No chance.
Hendrix Lapierre: I mean, [Strome is] up there for sure, in the players that assess the game the right way. But I feel like Mac would be my number one choice.
Dylan Strome: Yeah, Mac is a good choice. I’ll give you that. Mac’s a great choice. He does know the game, and no one’s going to mess with him.
Hendrix Lapierre: He’s got respect. You think we’re screaming after Mac for 60 minutes? No chance. He’s going to break your neck. No chance.
Strome proved one of the more popular answers. He came up as Ryan Leonard and Anthony Beauvillier pondered the question, though Leonard also proposed Frank (for his speed) and Matt Roy as good options.
Ryan Leonard: Roy…Calls it clean. (To Beauvillier) who’d you pick?
Anthony Beauvillier: Someone that has good integrity.
Ryan Leonard: Yeah, I know. That’s what I mean. Roy.
Anthony Beauvillier: Roy is a good pick. I’d say Stromer. Sees the ice.
Ryan Leonard: Stromer or Roy. Maybe Frankie, fastest ref in the world.
While most players chose teammates they thought would call a fair game, head coach Spencer Carbery took the opposite approach. He cited Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy, who answered the same question based on which of the team’s extras would be “the most biased towards us.”
“Oh, my gosh. I just saw that,” Carbery said. “Okay. I think that’s such an unfair question because (Cassidy) started assessing scratches, because you couldn’t use a guy in your (lineup). And then I think the — yeah, ah.”
“Don’t answer,” piped up Capitals PR head Sergey Kocharov, eliciting a round of laughter from reporters.
“Yeah, good advice. Good advice,” Carbery replied.
Without restricting himself to healthy scratches, however, Carbery figured Strome would find a way to help his team win.
“If I was just picking one player from our roster, not even considering whether they can play or not, his response of like, ‘Who’s going to be a little bit — err on our side.’ I’m going Dylan Strome,” he said. “He’d make sure we got on the power play a few extra times.”
Logan Thompson was the lone outlier from the two methodologies: instead of picking who would be the most (or least) fair, he picked the officials who would be most entertaining to watch.
“I think for a linesman, probably Duhaime. And then I think for a ref, I’d like to see Tom Wilson be a ref,” Thompson said. “I think the way [Wilson] likes to give it to refs, I’d like to see how he would do in that situation and see how calm he’d be…I’d like to see [Duhaime] in a position where he can’t give anyone a penalty and players can just give it to him. I think it’d be a funny situation to see him in.”
These days, an officiating crisis getting to the point where players would suit up feels unlikely, but it wouldn’t be unprecedented. On January 16, 1983, Hartford Whalers defenseman Mickey Volcan and New Jersey Devils forward Garry Howatt briefly stepped in after a six-inch snowstorm delayed two of the game’s three officials.
Per Secret Base, who made a video on the rule in 2018, Volcan even kicked a teammate out of a faceoff. The two served as linesmen (with the one original linesman promoted to temporary referee) until the missing officials made it to the arena for the second period.
While DC hopefully won’t get any more snowstorms this winter, it’s good to know that if they’re needed, the Capitals are ready to answer the call.
