The officials for tonight's game and the rest of the second round have been announced
With the first round of the NHL playoffs having come to a close, not only have the teams narrowed down in numbers but so have the officials. With 8 teams having moved forward, 12 NHL referees and 12 NHL linesmen have been granted the ability to continue to officiate in the second round.
For the referees who have made the cut, we have:
Gord Dwyer, Trevor Hanson, Jean Hebert, Steve Kozari, Chris Lee, Wes McCauley, Jon McIsaac, Dan O'Rourke, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Graham Skilliter, and Kelly Sutherland.
For the referees who missed the cut, we have:
Jake Brenk, Francis Charron, Eric Furlatt, Frederick L'Ecuyer, T.J. Luxmore, Kendrick Nicholson, Kevin Pollock, Garrett Rank
As for the linesmen who made the cut:
Shandor Alphonso, Steve Barton, Devin Berg, David Brisebois, Scott Cherrey, Michel Cormier, Brad Kovachik, Matt MacPherson, Bevan Mills, Kiel Murchison, Jonny Murray, and Bryan Pancich
And for those who missed the cut:
Kyle Flemington, Brandon Gawryletz, Travis Gawryletz, Ryan Gibbons, Jesse Marquis, Andrew Smith, Libor Suchanek, and James Tobias
As for what matters the most; who will be officiating during the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers series?
Fortunately, the Leafs will be able to evade the wrath of Wes McCauley for the time being as they are set to be officiated by Kelly Sutherland and Trevor Hanson - paired up for the first time this post-season. The 2 linesmen will be Steve Barton and Bryan Pancich.
Kelly Sutherland is a veteran of 1,457 games during the regular season and 221 in the post-season, dating back to 2000 and 2003 respectively. Trevor Hanson has 585 regular season games under his belt, including 31 in the post-season, and has been around since 2013. As for the linesmen, Steve Barton has 1,466 regular season games under his belt and 134 in the playoffs, while Bryan Pancich has taken part in 884 regular season games coupled with 64 in the post-season.
In games refereed by Sutherland, the Panthers went 5-0 in 2020-21, 3-2 in 2021-22, and 1-3 this season. For the Leafs, they went 4-1 in 2021-22 and 3-1 this season. Under Hanson, the Panthers went 1-2 in 2020-21, 2-2 in 2021-22, and 4-1 this season, while the Leafs went 4-1 in 2021-22 and 3-1-1 this season.
Sutherland didn't work any Leafs or Panthers games during the first round, while Hanson took part in Game 2 when the Leafs won 7-2 and Game 6 of the Florida Panthers-Boston Bruins series, where the Panthers won 7-5.
