The NHL already has its first officiating controversy of the season!

The NHL season is barely underway, and the referees have already found themselves at the center of a firestorm.

During a late third-period power play in the Canucks game, Vancouver's Linus Karlsson was taken down by Edmonton's Mattias Ekholm in what many observers described as a tackle. The force of the takedown broke Ekholm's stick in the process. What happened next is where things got controversial.

Karlsson, still on the ice or getting up from being hauled down, gave a light one-handed tap to Ekholm's already broken stick. The referees saw enough to send Karlsson to the penalty box for slashing, wiping out the Canucks' power play advantage and handing momentum to the opposition.

The reaction online was immediate and overwhelmingly critical of the call.

Canucks journalist Daniel Wagner did not hold back, writing on X, "What a godawful call. Karlsson gets fully tackled, then takes a one-handed swipe at an already broken stick and gets a slashing penalty? What are we doing? What's going on?"

The sequence of events is what makes the call so baffling to many. Ekholm initiated the contact that brought Karlsson to the ice. His stick was already broken before Karlsson made any contact with it. And yet it was Karlsson who ended up sitting in the penalty box. To make things worse, at that point in the game with very little time to go, the Canucks were ahead by just one goal in Edmonton. Vasily Podkolzin score the equalizer to get the crowd back on their feet and push the game into overtime. One fan sarcastically noted the stakes, suggesting that Edmonton could not afford to lose their home opener.

It is worth noting that officiating controversies are nothing new in the NHL. Borderline calls, missed infractions, and inconsistent standards have been debated for decades. But when a call this questionable arrives in the opening days of a new season, it tends to amplify the frustration. There was justice in the end as Vancouver rallied and won in extra time thanks to Paul Cotter and his second of the contest.

The league has not commented on the call, and I seriously doubt any clarification will follow. But if the early reaction is any indication, the conversation around NHL officiating standards is not going away anytime soon.