EDMONTON – NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is satisfied with the investigation that led to Alex Burrows being fined $2,500 US for criticizing the officiating of Stephane Auger.
"I don’t think people question the investigation," Bettman said Wednesday. "I think this comes down to partisanship and we are the ones who have to be ultimately comfortable with the result and comfortable with the job that [NHL vice-president] Colin Campbell did. My biggest concern about all sorts of incidents like this is they can become a tactic."
However, Burrows had told teammate Andrew Raycroft prior to the Jan. 11 game with Nashville that he feared "a long night" after a pre-faceoff talk with Auger on the ice. The Vancouver Canucks winger was adamant the official was looking to avenge a situation in Nashville on Dec. 8.
Auger gave Jerred Smithson a major and game misconduct for his hit on Burrows and the league later rescinded the game misconduct.
In the Jan. 11 game, Burrows was given a late-game interference penalty that led to a 3-2 Nashville win.
"Through the lens of a partisan you can always find calls you don’t like," added Bettman.
"But to say calls were made up – or phantom calls – I reject that. The interference call, if a goal is scored on that then Nashville has a real problem with that. People can debate. I don’t think it’s fair to suggest and I reject the notion that there was any bias in the officiating of that game."
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.