St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist has been fined $2,000 for embellishment.
Players are warned before a fine is issued. Sundqvist was issued a warning after a game against the Rangers on November 25; he did not draw a penalty on the play.
His second incident came on January 18 against the Utah Hockey Club, when he drew an interference call on forward Kevin Stenlund at 5:27 of the third period.
While this is Sundqvist’s first fine this season, he was fined $2,000 for embellishment last season. It’s safe to say the officials – and Hockey Ops – are keeping an eye on him,
Pool Party
Sundqvist is the fourth player to fined this season for Diving/Embellishment.
- 11/23/24 – Jeff Skinner, Edmonton Oilers
- 12/5/24 – Josh Norris, Ottawa Senators
- 12/23/24 – Dougie Hamilton, New Jersey Devils
- 1/24/25 – Oskar Sundqvist, St. Louis Blues
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 previously 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.
