This week's Big Question: Who's the best referee in the league?
Ryan Suter, Minnesota Wild: Honestly, I like the older guys, they're more fun, you can talk to them and you've been around them longer. I like the older guys because you can give it to them back and forth, and there's good communication. The young guys will get there, but they probably don't feel as comfortable yet.
Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild: The ones that communicate. Wes McCauley does a good job. A lot of the veteran guys. The younger guys are getting better, but the veteran guys, like a Dan O'Halloran, they're guys that get it.
Michael Cammalleri, New Jersey Devils: I like Danny O'Halloran. He's honest. He seems to call stuff -- there's always emotion involved, but you're always like, I can see where he would call that, even if it's against you. I would also say Kelly Sutherland, he probably gets a lot of nods.
Connor Carrick, Toronto Maple Leafs: Oh, man. I'm terrible with names and I don't talk to refs a lot because I'm a younger guy. I always love the ones that tell you, 'You're going down the wrong path, hey, you're using your stick way too much tonight, next one you're in trouble.' It just sharpens you up, they're letting you know that, 'Hey, the play you made is a good hockey play, it was close by the rulebook and anything dicey like that again, now you've done it more than once in a game, you've had your one and you're done.' I appreciate those. The linesman, they're pretty funny too. They're by the benches more. They're more willing to talk to you, they're the guys under a little less heat. ... They'll say funny things. I ran into [Joe] Colborne in Colorado in open ice, guys were fired up about it and the ref was like, 'Great hit! I love it!' I love when they're into it. They're charged up.
Johnny Boychuk, New York Islanders: I like all the linesmen. All the linesmen are awesome. I like all of them, actually. You know what? They have more time to chat with the players because they're at the blue line. In between timeouts, they're at the benches. We have a lot more time to chat with the linesmen. They're all funny. All of them are really good, not just one.
Taylor Hall, New Jersey Devils: Wes McCauley is a guy I find so personable. If he calls a penalty on me, I can't yell at him. He's so honest, you can really see he cares. When he's out there reffing, you see he's into the game, you can tell he loves hockey. Guys like that I respect a lot. Certainly, just the refs you can have a conversation with and guys who say, 'Hey, chill out. That was a penalty.'
Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames: Kyle Rehman. He's my favorite, he's the guy I talk to the most. The other guys, not so much [smiles].
Jason Chimera, New York Islanders: Kelly Sutherland. I like Kelly a lot. He's a guy who is really good at diffusing problems, it's an emotional game, he realizes that. He'll come back and talk to you about different plays and what [he] saw. I really respect Kelly [for] that.
Patric Hornqvist, Pittsburgh Penguins: They've all been solid. During the playoffs last year they were unbelievable. Obviously, we're hard on them sometimes and they're hard on us, but I don't want to change jobs.
John Tavares, New York Islanders: They've all been good. I think we have really good officials. Especially this year, they seem to communicate a lot more, try to help the players try to understand what they're seeing. I think I've tried to make an effort myself to do that and understand their position. I'm good with them all.
-- Craig Custance, Pierre LeBrun