Ex-NHL referee openly admits that certain NHL players receive preferential treatment from officials

During an interview with former NHLer Jeremy Roenick this week, Peel very openly stated that NHL officials don't assess penalties the way they should, as defined by the rule book. Instead, they try to go easy on star players who commit infractions, Peel confirmed.

Peel did concede that some things have to called, no matter who the perpetrator or victim of the infraction happened to be, so clearly there are limits to how much referees are willing to overlook.

It's bush league stuff like this that gets under the skin of the fans. Why bother having a rule book if you're not going to call it? Sidney Crosby is an excellent player, but should he be held to a different standard than is outlined in the rule book just because he has 3 Stanley Cups and sells a lot of jerseys? What kind of message does that send?

It's still like this that is a huge part of the reason why the NHL is the lowest ranked among the 4 major sporting leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL). Until the league's front office wants to get serious and actually do something about biased officiating, this league isn't going to gain any headway on its counterparts.