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Ref You Suck: Which Ref Picks On The Jets The Most

It doesn’t seem to matter who coaches the Winnipeg Jets, whether it be former-coach Claude Noel or current bench boss Paul Maurice, the Jets remain a heavily penalized team.

Is it a lack of discipline that sees the Jets lead the NHL in penalty kills, being short-handed 134 times. The Jets face 14.3 PIMs per game, second only to the Penguins (thanks, Steve Downie). Luckily, they are eighth in the league in PK%, sitting at 85.1% thanks to Charlie Huddy and whoever else coaches the 4v5.

While that number is quite good, the sheer amount of penalties means that the Jets have still allowed 20 goals while short-handed. Having lost 9 games this season by a one-goal margin, power play goals against can be mighty costly for a team battling for a playoff spot.

So who's to blame?

Is it the coaches? Are they unable to maintain discipline with their players?

Is it the players themselves? Does Dustin Byfuglien smash too much? Does Evander Kane get penalties for being Evander Kane? Does the captain Andrew Ladd REALLY need to take offensive zone penalties?

Or is it the officials? Is there some top secret nefarious attempt by the NHL officials to undermine the Jets' efforts?

Our chart digs deeper:

(Editor's Note: accurate as of 01/08 game vs Arizona)

Referee Stats 2014-2015 Record
# Referee name Reffing since Jets Games Jets PPs Jets PKs Pens/game Jets PP/game Jets PK/game W L OTL/SOL
42 Burchell, Darcy 2011 2 5 7 9.5 2.5 3.5 1 1
6 Charron, Francis 2008 1 2 1 3.0 2.0 1.0 1
43 Chmieleski, Tom 2013 1 4 3 7.0 4.0 3.0 1
10 Devorski, Paul 1987 2 9 9 20.5 4.5 4.5 1 1
19 Dwyer, Gord 2003 4 19 19 10.8 4.8 4.8 3 1
27 Furlatt. Eric 1998 2 8 6 9.5 4.0 3.0 2
47 Hanson. Trevor 2012 1 4 5 30.0 4.0 5.0 1
2 Hasenfratz, Mike 2000
22 Hebert, Ghislain 2008 1 3 4 7.0 3.0 4.0 1
15 Hebert, Jean 2010 1 4 7 11.0 4.0 7.0 1
8 Jackson, Dave 1989 3 8 12 7.7 2.7 4.0 3
25 Joannette, Marc 1993 2 3 6 4.0 1.5 3.0 1 1
18 Kimmerly, Greg 1993 2 5 6 5.5 2.5 3.0 1 1
32 Kowal, Tom 1998 3 7 12 5.3 4.0 4.0 1 1 1
40 Kozari, Steve 2003 3 13 12 10.7 4.3 4.0 2 1
14 LaRue, Dennis 1989 1 3 4 7.0 3.0 4.0 1
17 L’Ecuyer, Frederick 2006 2 7 11 10.0 3.5 5.5 1 1
28 Lee, Chris 1999 3 10 10 10.7 3.3 3.3 2 1
3 Leggo, Mike 1996 2 3 5 10.0 1.5 2.5 2
41 Lemelin, Mark 2011
46 Lewis, Dave 2012
49 Luxmore, TJ 2012 1 3 5 8.0 3.0 5.0 1
26 Martell, Rob 1992 3 6 7 6.0 2.0 2.3 3
4 McCauley, Wes 2001 3 11 11 11.3 3.7 3.7 1 1 1
45 McIsaac, Jon 2012
34 Meier, Brad 1994 3 10 11 9.0 3.3 3.7 1 1 1
36 Morton, Dean 1999 3 8 14 9.3 2.7 4.7 1 1
44 Nicholson, Kendrick 2014
13 O’Halloran, Dan 1992 3 11 14 12.0 3.7 4.7 2 1
9 O’Rourke, Dan 1999 2 7 11 14.5 3.5 5.5 1 1
20 Peel, Tim 1995 1 4 5 11.0 4.0 5.0 1
16 Pochmara, Brian 2002 5 16 28 11.2 3.2 5.6 1 3 1
33 Pollock, Kevin 1997 2 7 10 8.5 3.5 5.0 1 1
48 Rank, Garrett 2014
37 Rehman, Kyle 2006 3 12 13 9.7 4.0 4.3 2 1
5 Rooney, Chris 1996 3 11 12 8.7 3.7 4.0 1 1 1
24 Skiliter, Graham 2011 3 11 10 9.3 3.7 3.3 3
38 St. Laurent, Francois 2003 3 9 11 11.3 3.0 3.7 1 2
12 St. Pierre, Justin 2003 2 10 8 13.0 5.0 4.0 1 1
11 Sutherland, Kelly 1999 1 4 5 14.0 4.0 5.0 1
29 Walsh, Ian 1996 1 4 4 12.0 4.0 4.0 1
23 Watson, Brad 1993 4 18 14 10.8 4.5 3.5 1 1 2
TOTAL 41 139.5 166 3.4 4.0 20 14 7

Thanks to the good folks at The Committed Indian for the format idea.

So, unless Dave Jackson really has something against letting the Jets win games he refs, it's not obvious that any ref really has it out for the Jets.

Brad Watson has called four games already this season, all three games that Rob Martell has reffed have been wins and poor Trevor Hanson had his work cut out for him in his one game reffing Winnipeg, with 30 penalties given out in a 4-3 shootout loss to Pittsburgh on November 6 (thanks again, Steve Downie).

One can still argue that while the refs are not necessarily calling more penalties than necessary against the Jets, they might not be calling as many as they should be in the Jets' favour.

This leads me to my solution to all referee-related problems: Robots.

You mean to say that robots can't do a linesman's job? Using GPS and bionic arms, they can accomplish all those tasks like determining offside and breaking up fights. I'm not saying, I'm just saying…

Let us know what you think in the comments and the poll.

Option Votes
The coaches. They can’t maintain discipline 1
The refs. They’re out to get the Jets 29
Evander Kane, duh 14
The players. They need to stop taking so many penalties 65
The deteriorating diplomatic relations between Russia and the West 32
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