The NHL announced today that Islanders Cal Clutterbuck has been fined $2000 for diving under NHL Rule 64 (Diving/Embellishment).
Tis year the league revised Rule 64, which is designed to bring attention to and more seriously penalize players (and teams) who repeatedly dive and embellish in an attempt to draw penalties. Fines are assessed to players and head coaches on a graduated scale outlined below:
Citation # Player Fine(s) * Head Coach Fine(s)
1 Warning N/A
2 $2,000 N/A
3 $3,000 N/A
4 $4,000 N/A
5 $5,000 $2,000
6 $5,000 $3,000
7 $5,000 $4,000
8 $5,000 $5,000
* For Head Coach, each FINE issued to a player on his Club counts toward total.
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.
Clutterbuck was issued a Warning following an incident flagged by NHL Hockey Operations during NHL Game No. 397 against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 6. His second Citation, which triggered the $2,000 fine, was issued for an incident during NHL Game No. 676 against the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 19. Flyers forward Jakub Voracek received a minor penalty for hooking on the play, at 19:04 of the second period. The Islanders scored on the ensuing power play.