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The List of the NHL's Embellishment Calls

January 23, 2015, 9:58 AM ET [55 Comments]
Tim Chiasson
San Jose Sharks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
A harsh stance on divers and embellishers. That’s what the NHL was bringing to the table this season.

They announced a cat’s nine lives worth of fines for players who chose to be the outlaws – the amounts barely even denting the outside of the players’ wallets let alone what’s in them.

The league also makes calls to the players with warnings, though they don’t release who they’re tattling on.

The result? 56 embellishment calls on 54 different players (including two San Jose Sharks) and a fine for three players heading into the All-Star break.

The three players’ that were fined were:

James Neal (NSH): $2,000
Gustav Nyquist (DET): $2,000
Vincent Trochek (FLA): $2,000

There are 52 embellishers that weren’t fined – including two repeat offenders – but what’s most interesting about those who were fined is that Trochek has yet to receive a minor penalty for embellishment. The league’s supplementary discipline for Rule 64 has the $2,000 fine as the “second incident” with the first getting a warning. I guess the minors that Brad Marchand and Evgeni Malkin – who have two minors for embellishment each – don’t count as incidents, since they were never fined.

So, who dives the most? Let’s start with the Conference’s.

The Western Conference and the Eastern Conference have each accumulated 28 embellishment calls from the start of the season to the All-Star break. Since the Conferences aren’t even it means the embellishment share isn’t either. The West dives at a rate of 2.00 calls per team, the East at 1.75.



Divisional Breakdowns

The Atlantic Division, led by Montreal and Ottawa, have 17 embellishment calls to tarnish their reputation to lead the East (Metro has 11). The Pacific Division, led by Anaheim and Calgary, is the most dramatic on the Western side, receiving 16 of the Wests 28 calls (Central – 12). Again, we have to turn to the uneven amount of teams to determine which division features more actors per team. That title goes to the Pacific with 2.29 embellishments per team.



Embellishment Leaderboard

1. Pittsburgh Penguins (5)
T-2. Ottawa Senators (4)
T-2. Montreal Canadiens (4)
T-3. Anaheim Ducks (3)
T-3. Calgary Flames (3)
T-3. Boston Bruins (3)
T-3. Minnesota Wild (3)
T-3. St Louis Blues (3)

Players Called For Embellishment By Team (Alphabetical Order By Team) per NHL.com Boxscores

Anaheim Ducks: Sami Vatanen, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf
Arizona Coyotes: Kyle Chipchura, Martin Erat
Boston Bruins: Brad Marchand (2), Rielly Smith
Buffalo Sabres: Zemgus Girgensons
Calgary Flames: Mark Giordano, Markus Granlund, Paul Byron
Carolina Hurricanes: Victor Rask
Chicago Blackhawks: Andrew Shaw, Bryan Bickell
Colorado Avalanche: ZERO
Columbus Blue Jackets: Scott Hartnell
Dallas Stars: Ryan Garbutt
Detroit Red Wings: Justin Abdelkader, Gustav Nyquist
Edmonton Oilers: David Perron, Jeff Petry
Florida Panthers: Jussi Jokinen, Jonathan Huberdeau
Los Angeles Kings: Jarret Stoll, Jordan Nolan
Minnesota Wild: Nicklas Backstrom, Stephane Veilleux, Keith Ballard
Montreal Canadiens: PK Subban, Max Pacioretty, Mike Weaver, Brandon Prust
Nashville Predators: Filip Forsberg, James Neal
New Jersey Devils: Michael Ryder
New York Islanders: Matt Martin
New York Rangers: ZERO
Ottawa Senators: Bobby Ryan, Curtis Lazar, Clarke MacArthur, Kyle Turris
Philadelphia Flyers: Brayden Schenn, Zac Rinaldo
Pittsburgh Penguins: Evgeni Malkin (2), Steve Downie, Chris Kunitz, Blake Comeau
San Jose Sharks: Matt Irwin, Logan Couture
St Louis Blues: Vladimir Tarasenko, Steve Ott, TJ Oshie
Tampa Bay Lightning: Tyler Johnson
Toronto Maple Leafs: ZERO
Vancouver Canucks: Derek Dorsett, Zack Kassian
Washington Capitals: ZERO
Winnipeg Jets: Jim Slater

Fun Facts:

- Evgeni Malkin and Brad Marchand are the only two repeat offenders. Neither have been fined.

- Nicklas Backstrom is the only goaltender to get a flop call.

- Four teams (Col, NYR, Tor, Wsh) have no embellishment calls against them.

- The West is the most dramatic Conference, the Pacific the most dramatic Division.

- David Perron was a member of the Oilers when he was convicted of his crime, so Edmonton gets the credit.

Is the league really deterring embellishment with this nonsense? Here’s a chart of the calls per game for each month.



The calls are declining, but are the embellishers simply stopping their antics or are they just honing their acting skills to avoid the calls?

This list is only the players that have received calls for embellishment. I’m sure we can all think of a few Oscar-worthy nominees that didn’t make the list. Let it be known in the comment section.

Shame on the Sharks for contributing to this list.

Thanks for reading.


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