It was only a matter of time before P.K. Subban was fined by the National Hockey League for embellishment. Now with the fine, Subban is now a documented diver. It will be interesting to see if Subban cleans up his act.
NHL.COM -- Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban has been fined $2,000 as supplementary discipline under NHL Rule 64 (Diving/Embellishment), the National Hockey League announced today.
Revised for the 2014-15 season following offseason approval by the League's Board of Governors and the National Hockey League Players' Association, NHL Rule 64 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:
Ouch, my previous comment was swallowed up.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, Subban is a diver, just like Peter Forsberg was. The most frustrating part of Subban is that he doesn't need to dive to be an impact player. Heck, Rinaldo and Cooke needed to cheap shot players in order to be relevant. Subban isn't a cheap shot artist (even if he does pick a fight and turtle). But the thing is, Subban is the face of the Habs. He's not the Captain, but he very nearly was. If being the Captain of a storied organization such as the Habs is such a big deal, shouldn't he be a beacon of honesty towards all (not just fans and teammates)? You can play with an edge, sure. You can yap as well. Fine. Fans and haters don't have to like the yapping, but yapping is part of the game. Diving shouldn't be. And it shouldn't be the penchant of the Captain of a team, be it the Habs, Pens, or the woeful Sabres.
Look at all of the Captains of NHL teams in the past. Sure, some have the rep of being tough guys and a few have had issues with cheap shots (Scott Stevens for example), but the greatest Captains were leaders and truly worthy of being role models. Guys like Joe Thornton, Jonathon Toews, Joe Sakic, Luc Robitaille, Nik Lidstrom, and the list goes on (I'm missing quite a bit).
At this point, Subban isn't worthy of wearing the 'C.' He has to clean his game up.