The life of an NHL official is unenviable one. Corralling 200-pound men skating on knives while trying to enforce the rule book sounds like a death warrant to some, but that’s the life they chose. Despite having this tough job, the officiating and video review crews are under fire for multiple recent calls.
What’s going on with all of the negative feedback right now? Are teams overreacting to tough calls not going their way? Are the officials misunderstanding rules or against the spirit of the game?
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman shared the latest complaint from an NHL head coach, this time from Buffalo Sabres bench boss Lindy Ruff, and noted that it’s the fourth time in less than a week that a head coach has publicly criticized the officials or video review process.
Following last night’s win in Edmonton, Lindy Ruff became fourth coach in five days to sound off about gloved passes/video reviewhttps://t.co/LTfacADVyC
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 10, 2025
The truth has space for all of these options and probably lies somewhere in between. The officiating has been inconsistent, but sometimes things happen. It doesn’t mean it’s intentional or targeted. That’s precisely the case with the latest string of coaches calling out the league and its officials.
Lightning Struck with Anger
One of the leading players in this drama is Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. His team has been at the center of a few of these moments this season. Things reached a boiling point following a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Lightning believed they tied the game late in the third period, but the goal was overturned for a hand pass. The tying goal was taken away, and the Lightning lost 4-3 to the Penguins. Postgame, Cooper blasted the officials and called their decision “laughable.”
” I think you read the rule book, which we did, and then you try and dissect what happened in the play, and then you take it all into consideration. It’s laughable that that got overturned,” he said. “But in the end, it did, so can’t cry over that.”
Blue Jackets Robbed
Cooper called it laughable, but Columbus Blue Jackets’ head coach Dean Evason called it an “absolute joke,” when a recent call didn’t go his way.
Going up against the Florida Panthers, another apparent hand pass situation played a huge role in their loss. With the Panthers in the offensive zone, the puck bounced off Florida winger Brad Marchand’s glove and then was played by another Panthers player. In the same possession, defenseman Seth Jones scored a goal to put them up 4-2.
The Blue Jackets challenged the goal, but the call on the ice was confirmed. The Jackets lost the game, and Evason was irate in his postgame comments, aiming his frustration at the league.
Ruff Times in Buffalo
Veteran head coach Lindy Ruff has been known to speak his mind throughout his career in the NHL, and that was the case again after a contest against the Edmonton Oilers.
Ruff spared no part of the officials’ calls from his criticism. Despite the team picking up an overtime victory, he was adamant that the referees He pointed out a botched icing call, lambasted their decision to give the Oilers a two-man advantage early in the contest and referred to the officiating as one of the elements they had to overcome.
He pointed out another gloved pass as an example of a missed call. Ruff said there is no consistency across the league right now.
“I don’t think anybody in the league anymore knows where it comes from,” he said.
It’s a wake-up call to the officials and the league. Coaches are fed up. It doesn’t have to be perfect; blown calls will happen. But it seems the entire league is increasingly frustrated with how the games are being called.