While there was no definite proof of these accusations, we observed on the ice that refs don't treat every player impartially.
Tim Peel, a former referee, talked about this issue in a recent interview.

Peel was fired from the NHL in 2021 when he was caught on a mic telling a team that he made up a penalty call for their opponents to compensate for a bad call earlier.
Many fans suspected that these methods were used in the NHL, but this is definite proof.
Here's what Peel said that caused a huge stir:
Then, he added:
Do you think referees should be 100% unbiased?
As seen on Blade of Steel - Former referee fired by the NHL admits he gave star players special treatment
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 12 | 276 ANSWERS Ex-NHL Referee Admits he Gave Special Treatments to Certain Players Do you think referees should be 100% unbiased? | ||
| Yes | 247 | 89.5 % |
| No | 29 | 10.5 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
|
YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||