Like any coach in any sport, Bruce Cassidy has interfaced with referees quite a bit in his career, Tim Peel among them.
And like everyone else in the hockey world, Cassidy has thoughts about what happened with Peel.
The NHL effectively fired Peel on Wednesday after he was caught on a hot mic during Tuesday's Predators-Red Wings game saying he wanted to assess a penalty to Nashville early in the tilt after calling Viktor Arvidsson for tripping. The league dropped the hammer by saying Peel no longer was going to be allowed to ref, though he was set to retire next month.
The Boston Bruins head coach offered a levelheaded take on the matter after Wednesday's practice.
"It sounded like ... almost a personal thing, for some reason," Cassidy said. "So you want to get the full story. It's not acceptable anyway, but what motivated him to take that approach? And I guess it due time he may or may not have his say. But you don’t want that, obviously. I’ve had enough run-ins with officials where we disagree and sometimes bark each other at the bench. Typically a ref will come over after and say 'You’ve said your piece. Enough.' I know it myself. Sometimes the staff will even say it 'OK Butch, time to calm down now.'
"Sometimes it’s done on purpose to protect your players, to motivate your players, to get the attention of whoever. I think there’s different reasons for it. But this sounds like something that should not have happened. The NHL dealt with it. I think Tim was retiring at the end of this year. I’ve always enjoyed my conversations with him, just between whistles and such and off ice, so it’s unfortunate, they did what they had to do and took the appropriate action. That’s obviously just something an official shouldn’t do."
Peel actually is responsible for a controversial call that came early in Cassidy's tenure as B's coach.
In Game 3 of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs first round, Peel called the controversial overtime penalty on Riley Nash that came after Nash retaliated on a hit to the head from Bobby Ryan. Nash swung at Ryan and was the only one sent to the box. The Sens ended up scoring on that man advantage.
