NHL Referee Banned for Hot-Mic Incident During Predators vs. Red Wings Game

An NHL referee will not work another game after saying he wanted to give a Nashville Predators player a penalty in their win on Tuesday night over the Detroit Red Wings. On Wednesday, NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell announced that Tim Peel would "no longer be working NHL games now or in the future." Peel was set to retire after this season.

"Nothing is more important than ensuring the integrity of our game," Campbell said per ESPN. "Tim Peel's conduct is in direct contradiction to the adherence to that cornerstone principle that we demand of our officials and that our fans, players, coaches and all those associated with our game expect and deserve. There is no justification for his comments, no matter the context or his intention, and the National Hockey League will take any and all steps necessary to protect the integrity of our game."

Hot mic alert. Tim Peel will no longer be reffing NHL games... pic.twitter.com/C1R9GubdoS

— Tony Cordasco (@TonyDasco) March 24, 2021

The incident happened early in the second period when Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson was called for tripping Red Wings defenseman Jon Merril in the offensive zone. The replay shows that Merril embellished the fall to help draw the call, and the Nashville broadcast captured audio of Peel saying "it wasn't much, but I wanted to get a f—ing penalty against Nashville early." Predators coach John Hynes was asked about the hot mic incident after the game.

I personally would have considered mentioning in the statement that the NHL intends to address the issue of make-up calls with the entirety of its officiating crew so that it doesn't exist anymore. Tim Peel just got caught saying out loud what many officials think all the time.

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 24, 2021

"I think the situation is what it is," he said. "I think from our perspective, it probably doesn't matter how I feel about it in general, but the referees are employees of the league, and rather than me comment, I think it's an issue that the league will have to take care of." Hynes also said that "you always want to have things that are fair for your players and for your team" but that there are no excuses. "We have to find a way to kill the penalty and control what we can control." Peel, 53, has been an NHL on-ice official since 1999 and has refereed 1,334 games entering this season.