Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Mark Friedman has been fined $2000 for diving/embellishment.
Friedman was issued a warning after an incident against the Detroit Red Wings on December 28, when he drew an intereference penalty against David Perron.
His second violation came on April 2 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Friedman hit the Flyers’ Konecny into the boards. The Philadelphia forward retaliated with a slash to the shin. The Pens defender embellished the penalty, diving to the ice to draw a minor penalty call.
Friedman was not penalized for diving/embellishment in either case.
Friedman is the second player to be fined for diving this season, after Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment.
The NHL issues fines after the second infraction, but does not publish a list of players who have received a warning.
Citations are issued by the National Hockey League Hockey Operations Department, which tracks all games, logs all penalties for diving or embellishment, and flags all plays not called on the ice that in its opinion were deserving of such a penalty. A Citation is issued once Hockey Operations, through its internal deliberations, is convinced that a player warrants sanction.
Basically, a player can be warned or fined even if not penalized. In some cases, even a player penalized for diving/embellishment may not receive a warning based on the Hockey Ops review.
Twenty-three players have been penalized for diving/embellishment this season; only one of them – Toronto’s Michael Bunting – has been sent to the box for a dive multiple times. Based on the lack of a fine for Bunting, it appears that Hockey Ops determined that at least one of those was a legitimate penalty without embellishment.
Through this point last season, three players had received diving fines, with two in each of the prior two seasons.
