Video review doesn’t belong in the NHL.

It’s time for the league to do something that will improve the game. It started with good intentions, but it has been a disaster. Many other sports are also using video review, and it hasn’t improved any of them. This is one example of overthinking an issue and making it more complicated. Referees aren’t perfect, and sports are unpredictable. The justification for using video review is that it is more accurate. That’s not true; mistakes continue. Just because we have the technology to do something doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

Sports aren’t perfect. Hockey is a fast-paced game and one of the most exciting sports on the planet. Lots of random elements are at play. The puck can bounce off a defender into his own net. A player can trip and cause a breakaway against his team. At times, referees will go back several minutes in the game and find something that nullifies plays that have already happened. The idea that we can perfectly officiate sports is ridiculous. Rules are for obvious infractions, not for a skate that’s one millimetre offside as seen by a high-definition camera. Reviews to check offside and whether pucks are over the line don’t always work.

There are so many intangibles; is a player in the way? Does the slow-motion replay show what actually happened? Is the goalpost in the way? Is a glove, skate, stick, or goalie pad in the way?  Is the camera in the right place? What’s next? Are we eventually going to have robot AI refs? Guess what? Robot referees won’t be perfect either. Technology would have taken over, and in that case, humanity comes in second. Didn’t anyone understand the moral of Star Wars? Technology should be a tool, not in charge. This isn’t what sports are about. Give the human refs power again and stop the madness. If a referee makes a bad call, deal with it or get better referees.

Video reviews also take far too long. The process is supposed to improve sports. But anything that negatively affects the flow of the game should be eliminated. Every time there is a video review, the flow of the game is ruined. It can even affect momentum and change the outcome of a game. Just like in hockey, rugby fans sit around waiting for the refs to decide whether a try is scored. Celebrating a try or goal isn’t the same as it used to be because it can be called back. Emotion is being drained out of sports by having reviews.

You would think a practice would be abandoned if it didn’t work. Well, it doesn’t. Mistakes continue, even with video review. As I stated earlier, you can’t always tell if a player is offside or if a puck went all the way over the goal line. Goalie interference calls are even more subjective. Neither the players, the coaches, nor the fans know what the outcome will be. If anything, the officiating is more inconsistent than ever. This modern experiment with video reviews for sports is a massive failure.

Some pundits say video review is needed because of sports betting. I would wager most fans would enjoy NHL games more without video review.

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