The NHL officiating ranks have seen quite a bit of turnover during the past year. We’ve seen the retirements of long-time officials Mike Cvik, Greg Kimmerly, Dennis Larue, Brad Lazarowich, Rob Martell, and Andy McElman.
To fill those spots, the NHL promoted six officials: referees Jon McIsaac, Kendrick Nicholson, and Garrett Rank and linesmen Shandor Alphonso, Devin Berg, and Brandon Gawryletz. Those officials’ part-time roles were back-filled by the hiring of AHL/NHL officials Ryan Daisy, Pierre Lambert, Peter MacDougall, Kory Nagy, Chris Schlenker, Furman South, and Cameron Voss.
Now the new guys will need need to step up.
Referee Chris Rooney and linesmen Don Henderson, Derek Nansen, and Jay Sharrers will miss the start of the 2016-17 NHL season.
Rooney was injured during training camp for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The South Boston native suffered an injury to his Achilles tendon and is expected to be sidelined 4-6 months.
“It was during a shuttle run and it just popped,’’ Rooney told the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont. “I was doing the test for, oh, maybe 10-12 minutes . . . and, pop, it tore right off. Until then, no pain or anything. Had I felt something, obviously I would have stopped. But all of a sudden, it just went.’’
Henderson remains sidelined after the infamous hit from behind by Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman. The veteran linesman missed NHL Officials Training Camp for the first time in his 22-year career, according to Sportsnet. Eric Francis reports that there’s still no timetable for his return.
Nansen suffered a torn ACL during training camp. While there’s no official timeline, ACL injuries typically require six months or more of recovery.
No information is available about the injury to Sharrers. He officiated through the postseason, which may indicate that his injury occurred in offseason training or during camp. The NHL declined to comment.
