Burrows Vs Auger - How this could have been prevented

Just my two cents worth.

No one will know what was really said during the warm up when Auger had a "chat" with Burrows. Aside from Auger and Burrows of course. That really doesn't matter any more anyway as the NHL has taken the action they deemed to be appropriate, which I agree with. However, how can a situation like this be avoided to begin with and in the future?

Simple, the NHL needs to utilize the ref's crease more effectively. There are players on each team with a C or an A on their jerseys for a reason. The on ice officials, more specifically the ref's, should only be speaking to those players from the refs crease (there could even be an audio feed recorded), and no others at any time. And they should not have to take any sort of questioning from any other players on or off the ice. If a player can't let his captain's speak for him, a few unsportsmanlike minors will surely make him bite his tongue before too long. Of course linesman wouldn't have this restriction as they do need to give instructions to the players at times, and they don't have the power to really affect a game calling phantom penalties wanting payback for being made to "look bad".

Yes, there are only 3 players with a letter on their jersey per team, so they will not always be on the ice. But there are more than enough stoppages in plays, TV timeouts etc for a team to send one out when needed. And with the two ref system, one of the officials will be available in the ref's crease until play is about to resume.

Officials from any sport have a tough, generally thankless job. The best ones are the ones who don't get noticed at all. They don't have the benefit of seeing multiple slo mo replays from multiple angles that fans and review panels do. They have to make a call, then and there, with no hesitation with what they can see with their own two eyes at ice level. They also don't need players to embellish injury to try and milk a harsher penalty for the offender. That's just not hockey. Well, maybe in Europe it is.

C