Gabriel Landeskog is done biting his tongue on how referees call penalties for the Colorado Avalanche.
Speaking to Evan Rawal this week, the Avalanche winger went after a specific officiating habit that's been bugging him for a while.
Tripping and embellishment, called on the same play, at the same time.
"Oh my God, it drives me nuts," Landeskog said. He's not wrong, and he's not alone in thinking it.
His frustration isn't about one missed call. It's about a pattern he says the refs won't fix, even when he brings it up directly.
"I'm always talking to the refs about it, and they're like, 'Well, I don't know,'" Landeskog said.
Pick one, he argued. Was it the dive or was it the trip? Can't be both.
Landeskog's case comes from a career built on drawing penalties
Landeskog has 14 goals and 21 assists for 35 points in 60 games this season, plus a plus-29 rating that ranks near the top of Colorado's lineup.
He's riding a hot stretch too, with 4 goals and 5 assists over his last 10 games, including 3 goals in his last 5.
That kind of physical, in-your-face game means he draws a lot of penalties, and he's felt the sting when the calls go sideways just as often.
Colorado finished the year at 55-16-11 for 121 points, tops in the league, and a -99... actually a plus-99 goal differential built on discipline and special teams execution.
A team playing that clean doesn't want ambiguity from the referees when the margins get tight in the postseason.
Landeskog's comments came as part of a wider NHL superstar poll from Greg Wyshynski, touching on rule changes, the grind of an 84-game season, and hockey fan culture.
Would you want the league to actually change how simultaneous penalties are officiated? Landeskog clearly thinks it should.
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He's not asking refs to stop calling penalties. He's asking them to stop hedging when the whistle blows twice on one shift.
That's a fair ask from a player who's logged over a decade in the league watching officiating trends shift year to year.
Whether the league actually listens is another matter entirely.
Should the NHL ban refs from calling tripping and embellishment on the same play?
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