Insider raises major concern on former Oiler retiring to become NHL referee

Former Oilers draft pick Ben Betker has officially been hired as an NHL referee, and is slated to make his debut in the spring of next season.

Oilers insider Jason Gregor is raising somewhat of an objection to the hiring of Betker - that he's going to be incredibly inexperienced as a referee when making his NHL debut.

Betker was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the 6th round of the 2013 draft, but never made it higher than 86 games with the Oilers' AHL team. He ended his professional playing career at 30 years old after his last season in Slovakia, and then attended the 2024 NHL officials combine.

After just one season in the AHL as a referee, and some additional training next season, Betker will be fairly inexperienced as a referee when he joins the big leagues.

When the NHL already has such a problem with inconsistent refereeing, hiring essentially brand-new referees may not be the best idea.

Jason Gregor has also recently pointed to a major decline in overall penalties called, which makes little sense in the modern NHL and has led to reduced scoring.

The NHL does still conduct in-season evaluations of their referees to decide which officials to send to the playoffs, in an attempt to hand pick the best. We'll see if Betker one day makes his way to the NHL playoffs as a referee.