NHL officials face one of the most challenging jobs in professional sports. They have to travel across the United States and Canada calling games—and every whistle has a major effect on each game’s outcome.
They also have to do so amid one of the most physical sports, where collisions, body-checks, and all-out fights are commonplace.
There are two different types of NHL officials: referees and linespersons. NHL officials work in four-person crews with two referees and two linespersons each.
Accordingly, NHL referees are usually earning a comfortable living given their demanding jobs, and that pay scale increases with the more experience those officials accumulate.
NHL Referee Salary Overview
Much like other referees in professional sports leagues, officials in the NHL are paid on a scale that factors in their amount of experience. Referees must work 73 regular-season games to earn a full-season wage, and can earn extra if they work additional regular-season games.
That pay has steadily increased over the past decade. According to Boardroom, as of 2023 first-year NHL referees made $220,602 per regular season while first-year linespersons were paid $141,291 per regular season.
By comparison, according to the NHL officiating Collective Bargaining Agreement in place in 2012–2013, first-year referees made $162,792 while first-year linespersons made $112,187.
NHL officiating salaries also gradually increase with each year of experience. Although the full pay scale under the current NHL officiating CBA is not public, referees on the highest end with 16 or more years of experience made $482,226 each during the 2022–2023 regular season while linespersons made $292,027 each.
Additionally, 20 referees and 20 linespersons get selected each season to officiate in the playoffs. Referees earn an additional $27,000 per playoff round worked while linespersons earn $17,250 per round.
A handful of referees and linesmen are also deployed on standby in case an official working the game gets injured. Referees make $1,000 per game if they remain on standby and $2,750 per game if they have to enter. Those rates are $650 and $1,775, respectively, for linespersons.
Referee Salary Levels by Experience
Although current wage scales for referees under their current CBA with the NHL are not public, we can infer from publicly available past CBAs as well as additional reports that there is a pay scale that ascends each year from 1-to-16-plus years of service for referees and 1-to-20-plus years of service for linespersons. Additionally, the entire pay scale increases incrementally year-over-year.
Here’s what the low and high ends were on the pay scale for referees in 2023:
- Starting Salary: $220,602
- Highest annual salary: (16+ years of service): $482,226
And here’s what the pay scale range looked like for linespersons in 2023:
- Starting Salary: $141,291
- Highest annual salary: (20+ years of service): $292,027
Highest Paid NHL Referees
Detailed earnings for individual NHL officials are not available, but based on experience level and number of regular-season and playoff games worked, it is likely these current officials are making top salaries.
The numbers below reflect the total number of games these officials have worked after the 2023—24 season.
| Name | Years of experience | Regular-season games worked | Playoff games worked |
| Kelly Sutherland | 25 | 1,534 | 242 |
| Chris Rooney | 29 | 1,465 | 170 |
| Eric Furlatt | 27 | 1,464 | 180 |
| Chris Lee | 26 | 1,419 | 120 |
| Dan O’Rourke | 26 | 1,329 | 202 |
NHL Referee FAQs
- How much do NHL referees make per game?
- NHL referees make between approximately $3,000 and $6,600 per game, depending on their experience level, as long as they reach the benchmark of 73 games worked in a regular season.
- Who is the highest-paid NHL referee?
- See above for a list of some of the most experienced, and thus highest-paid, NHL referees. These referees’ season-long wage combined with possible playoff assignments can put their yearly compensation above $500,000.
- Do NHL referees fly first class?
- According to the 2010–2014 NHL refereeing CBA, referees were entitled to first-class airline tickets in order to travel to and work special events including NHL International Games, NHL All-Star Games and NHL Winter Classic games.
This article was compiled with information from Boardroom, BetMGM, and the NHL Officials Association.
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