Former NHL official admits to hanging out and gambling with NHL players, which is a huge conflict of interest
A few years ago, a hot mic picked up now former NHL referee Tim Peel saying he was looking to call a penalty on Nashville for game management reasons, even though there was no real infraction when he called the penalty. The NHL reacted quickly when the clip went viral, immediately terminating Peel's employment with the league. Since being fired by the NHL, Peel has become very active on social media - Twitter in particular - and has made the rounds on a few podcasts including the ever popular Spittin' Chiclets.
Recently, Peel has found himself in hot water again, except this time it is from hockey fans. In short, former NHLers Brandon Dubinsky and Paul Bissonnette had agreed to meet for a Rangers game over Twitter when Tim Peel replied to the initial tweet as you can see below.
We all knew that NHL refs were corrupt, but I don't think any of us thought we would see a former official come out and say it so bluntly. It didn't take long for fans to see his reply and jump all over him and the league for conflict of interest.
We always say the league is lining the officials' pockets, but just maybe the players do to? It adds some perspective as to why some players might get more favourable calls for their team as opposed to others. Unfortunately for Tim Peel, he still hasn't learned how to stay quiet on certain things and it will be interesting to see if the NHL or NHLPA takes that information and runs some sort of investigation for conflict of interest.
