While the NHL handed down three fines for diving on Friday, all signs point to a decrease in players engaging in acts of embellishment this season.
The fines assessed to Nazem Kadri of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nail Yakupov of the Edmonton Oilers, and Martin Hanzal of the Arizona Coyotes brought the season total to 13, which is actually up from 10 in 2014-15. Still, as Sportsnet’s Damien Cox notes during this week’s edition of Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada, instances of diving have decreased.
“All the other indicators for diving are down,” Cox said. “The number of flagged plays when they identify a player for diving, number of diving penalties, the number of warnings, and the league also says guys who were diving last year aren’t diving this year.
“They [the NHL] really feel that their crackdown, their campaign, against diving in the NHL is working.”
Kadri was fined a total of $5,000 this week for diving. The 25-year-old was given a warning for his first citation on Feb. 4 versus the New Jersey Devils and a $2,000 fine for his second citation on March 12 in a game against the Ottawa Senators. He was handed a $3,000 fine for his third citation of the season in a game against the Calgary Flames on March 21.
Both Yakupov and Hanzal were dinged for their second citations, costing them $2,000 apiece.
