With the NHL’s crackdown on diving this season, the league is reviewing all possible dives and embellishment. This includes both infractions caught on the ice as well as those that eluded the referees’ watchful eyes.
NHL Diving/Embellishment Penalties
Infractions caught after the fact can still add to a player’s total when it comes to the new diving supplemental discipline guidelines. These include player fines as well as fines for the head coaches of frequent offenders.
The league also has the power to make those penalties go away.
Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand had been called for embellishment by referee Tom Kowal on Monday, November 10 in a game against the New Jersey Devils. (His was one of two embellishment calls in the game, both against the Bruins.)
The next night, he happened to be visiting NHL HQ in Toronto and touring the league’s Situation Room. It was there that he found out that his dives “really weren’t dives” after all, as Behind the B shows:
To his credit, Marchand hasn’t been called for diving since. At least, not yet…
