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So what’s Rick Tocchet’s take on officiating in the postseason?
“Brad Watson was our (referee) supervisor and he was excellent,” said Tocchet, who’s the Canucks’ head coach. “It’s the best communication I’ve had with the referees in the playoffs in a long time. I thought the refs did a really good job.
“Am I going to nitpick? Do I think we should have had a couple more (power plays)? Yeah. I do.”
Tocchet went on to say that he does take issue with the diving, flopping and other shady tactics players across the league are using to try to sucker referees into calling penalties.
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He did not call out a specific team or player. He does seem to have company in his thinking, considering that he was a part of a meeting with NHL head office brass on Sunday and Tocchet explained that “I’m glad Colin Campbell said it — too much embellishing.”
Campbell, of course, is the NHL’s senior executive vice president of hockey operations.
“I can’t stand embellishment,” Tocchet continued. “I’m not even saying that Edmonton is an embellish team. I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that I would be very on guard with the refs this playoff with this embellishment.
“Snapping heads, falling down … I think it’s become a lot. I think it’s up to the coaches. I don’t think you can promote that stuff. If not, the NHL has to do something about that stuff with the refs.”
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