The National Hockey League has announced the 20 referees and 20 linesmen taking the ice for the return to play and the start of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The officials will be split into two groups, one at each hub city.

 

Referees – Edmonton

Marc Joannette, Steve Kozari, T.J. Luxmore, Jon McIsaac, Brad Meier, Dan O’Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Chris Rooney, Francois St. Laurent, and Kelly Sutherland.

Referees – Toronto

Francis Charron, Gord Dwyer, Eric Furlatt, Trevor Hanson, Jean Hebert, Frederick L’Ecuyer, Chris Lee, Wes McCauley, Kevin Pollock, and Kyle Rehman.

In from 2019:  T.J. Luxmore, Frederick L’Ecuyer

Out from 2019: Dan O’Halloran (retired), Tim Peel

 

 

Linesmen – Edmonton

Scott Cherrey, Ryan Gibbons, Brad Kovachik, Kiel Murchison, Jonny Murray, Pierre Racicot,  Mark Shewchyk, Tony Sericolo, Andrew Smith, and Libor Suchanek.

Linesmen – Toronto

Shandor Alphonso, Derek Amell, Steve Barton, Devin Berg, David Brisebois, Michel Cormier, Greg Devorski, Matt MacPherson, Derek Nansen, and Bryan Pancich.

In from 2019: Shandor Alphonso, David Brisebois, Derek Nansen, Libor Suchanek

Out from 2019: Ryan Daisy, Trent Knorr, Steve Miller, Brian Murphy (retired)

 

As in previous seasons, the league will cut down on the pool of officials after each round of the playoffs.   Officials from both sites are expected to be centralized in one location for the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final; that mix will include all officials regardless of their initial hub city assignment.

 

First-Timers

Linesmen Shandor Alphonso and Libor Suchanek are working their first postseason.

Who’s Missing

Referees not taking part in this year’s playoffs include: Jake Brenk, Tom Chmielewski, Ghislain Hebert, Pierre Lambert, Peter MacDougall, Dean Morton, Kendrick Nicholson, Tim Peel, Garrett Rank, Justin St. Pierre, Graham Skilliter, and Ian Walsh.  Linesmen on the sidelines are Ryan Daisy, Ryan Galloway, Brandon Gawryletz, Travis Gawryletz, Trent Knorr, Brian Mach, Steve Miller, Bevan Mills, Kory Nagy, Vaughan Rody, and James Tobias.  MacDougall, Mills, and Tobias, all in their first full seasons as NHL officials, were not expected to work the postseason.

Retired officials Dan O’Halloran, Scott Driscoll, Darren Gibbs, and Brian Murphy are out for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The officials splitting time between the AHL and NHL – referees Reid Anderson, Brandon Blandina, Mitch Dunning, Beau Halkidis, Dan Kelly, Conor O’Donnell, Brandon Schrader, Furman South, and Corey Syvret, along with linesmen Tyson Baker, Jesse Marquis, Kyle Flemington, Julien Fournier, and Travis Toomey – are also off the playoff roster.

 

Postseason Paychecks

Officials, like players, earn their paychecks for their regular season work. NHL Referees and linesmen, though, get a bonus for working the playoffs.

From the previous NHLOA CBA which ran through 2014, referees earned $18,250 per round worked, while linesmen picked up an additional $12,100 per round. We anticipate that has increased in the most recent agreement.

Standby officials earned $900 for referees and $600 for linesmen, with a bump to $2,450 or $1,650, respectively, if they were called into duty and had to work a game.

No word on how things will work during the play-in round or throughout the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

 

Congratulations to the NHL Referees and Linesmen selected to work the play-in tournament, round-robin games, and the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.