New Season, New Rules, New Refs!

Getting ready for the upcoming 2024-25 National Hockey League season with a review of the rule changes, including a big one that will allow Coach's Challenges for puck-over-glass delay of game penalties, along with Ryan Getzlaf joining former teammate George Parros in the NHL's Department of Player Safety. Todd and Josh look back at the retiring officials, the promotions, and the two new hires joining the NHL officiating ranks: Alex Lepkowski and Liam Maaskant. The latest stripes both spent time playing in the OHL and USports, suiting up with the Acadia Axemen for four seasons before moving to officiating.

Who better to weigh in on the NHL's latest officials than the man who coached them? Acadia University men's hockey coach Darren Burns joins us to learn about the league's latest additions, including what they were like on and off the ice.

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Questions? Comments? Just looking to vent? Call the RefLine and leave us a message at 585-484-REFS! #RefsPodcast

The Scouting The Refs Podcast is a weekly look at the world of officiating and player safety within the National Hockey League, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world. We'll break down the calls and the rules behind them to help understand why a penalty or suspension was - or wasn't - handed out.

Todd Lewis is a veteran broadcaster covering the NHL and other major league sports. Lewis is a former host on the NHL Network and on NHL Network Radio. He’s also worked for TSN, Sportsnet as a host/anchor and is a producer of other programs.

Josh Smith is the founder of Scouting the Refs, the leading independent site related to hockey officiating which follows hockey officials across the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world, including news, rule changes and interpretations, suspensions, and statistics on officials and penalty calls. 

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