Tonight’s Flyers game will be refereed by Paul Devorski and Kyle Rehman. Let’s get to know them a little.
Devorski is the senior member of the pair. He has been working NHL games since the 1989-90 season, with 1386 regular season and 166 playoff games to his credit. His premier assignments include the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007, 2008, and 2009, the men’s gold medal game at the 2006 Olympics, and the men’s bronze medal game at the 2010 Olympics.
Devorski is prone to letting a lot go. Last year, he ranked 30th out of 33 in terms of number of penalties called per game that he worked (6.5), 31st of 33 in number of restraining fouls per game (3.3), and 31st of 33 in number of physical fouls per game (3.2). Specifically, his games were significantly below average in number of hooking, interference, goalie interference, boarding, cross-checking, and unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, but weren’t even 10% above average in any of the 18 most common penalties.
Devorski grew up in Ontario, but now resides in Harrisburg. His brother, Greg, will be one of tonight’s linesmen.
Reman is a bit less experienced. His 174 regular season games represent a little over two years of work at the typical ~75 games per year, although those games are scattered over a tenure that dates back to the 2007-08 season. He has never worked an NHL playoff game.
Rehman called games a bit tighter than average at 8.2 per game (6th of 33). He was right at the league average in physical fouls, but called restraining fouls a bit more than average — especially hooking, which he called more than any other ref (1.5 per game).
