Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen has been fined $2,000 for diving. Andersen had previously been warned for diving after an earlier incident. His fine was assessed after a dive at 7:30 of the second period of December 31 game between the Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights. No penalty was called on the play.
Another angle:
Andersen was first issued a warning after a November 24 game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Leafs netminder drew a goaltender interference call on Carolina’s Jeff Skinner. After a look at the replay, it appeared Andersen initiated contact outside the crease before falling backward.
Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen draws an interference call on Carolina’s Jeff Skinner on November 24, 2017
Andersen is the first player this season to be fined for diving/embellishment. Only one other goaltender has ever been fined by NHL Hockey Ops for diving — Buffalo’s Michal Neuvirth was fined for diving in 2015 while drawing an interference penalty.
As a reminder, here’s the scale of fines issues to those found guilty of diving/embellishment.
The league reviews all possible embellishment situations and may consider additional dives that were not penalized during the game. They may also rescind dives called in a game that were later reviewed and determined not to be embellishments.
The Diving/Embellishment Review Process
The NHL’s Hockey Operations department tracks every diving or embellishment penalty called on the ice. They also review each game to identify possible dives that were missed by the on-ice officials. (In some cases, they even rescind those diving penalties that may have been called during a game. Boston’s Brad Marchand was the beneficiary of such a modification.)
Once the Hockey Ops team agrees that a dive has taken place, they issue a citation. Sportsnet’s Damien Cox reported that there are nine individuals who participate in the review of each incident. If six decide that a dive has taken place, the player is cited.
