There was some discussion a while back on how better to police the play clock. It looks like the NHL may have a solution of sorts. Smart watches. These are watches loaded with apps especially for NHL referees, they are kept at the stadiums and used by about 70 per cent of the refereeing crews.
Basically the watch have a series of timers that send a pulse to the wearer about timing needs. It goes off on such things as 5 five minute left in play 2 minutes one minute 30 seconds and does a countdown. Same with penalties and so forth.
Just assign a watch to the appropriate referee, it automatically starts when the play clock starts and pulses when when it expires. That way the ref doesn't have to keep one eye on the clock and the other in the https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6163747/2025/02/28/nhl-referees-apple-watch-2025-regular-season/?campaign=12766679&source=athletic_targeted_email&userId=213687