Former NHL referee Tim Peel calls Nazem Kadri's injury 'karma'

A reactionary tweet by disgraced NHL referee Tim Peel following Nazem Kadri’s injury Saturday night has caused a stir around hockey circles.

The tweet, which simply read “KARMA!,” was quickly deleted by Peel, perhaps based on his own better judgement, but not before one user nabbed a screenshot and shared it.

The hit by Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane resulted in Kadri leaving the game with an undisclosed injury. After the game, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar shared that his star pivot would be out for the remainder of the series and potentially longer, while the NHL announced Sunday that Kane would have a hearing for the hit.

Peel hasn’t been allowed to referee an NHL game since March 2021, when a hot mic caught him saying that he "wanted to call a penalty" during a Red Wings-Predators matchup. The NHL released a statement following that incident saying that he would no longer be working NHL games.

Following his dismissal, Peel joined Twitter in August later that year and has found himself in hot water multiple times over his 10 months on the platform. Just last week, Peel shared a separate inflammatory tweet, also about Kadri, amid Kadri's saga with Jordan Binnington that has also since been deleted.

The two posts, combined with others Peel has allegedly tweeted and since deleted (is anybody else noticing a pattern here), opens a pandora's box surrounding the efficacy of NHL refereeing. Of course, Peel is no longer employed by the NHL and is free to share his thoughts on the game, but it does raise some concern as to how much a referee’s prior bias goes into the decisions they make.

Despite Kadri’s absence, the Avalanche dropped the Oilers 4-2 on Saturday to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. The juggernaut Avs will have a chance to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final in Game 4 on Monday.

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