Friedman calls for NHL rule change to prevent players diving
NHL insiders fed up with loose embellishment rules in the league
With the worsening dives in the NHL over the span of the playoffs, it's obvious that the refs aren't respected by players to do their job. Players feel the need to sell calls just to ensure refs can see calls they should be making anyway, and it's giving the game a very bad reputation.
It's gotten so bad that not only are fans talking about it, but insiders are also covering the topic as it gets worse. Elliotte Friedman covered embellishment on his 32 thoughts podcast, and has a very serious take on it that could be great for getting the flopping back under control.
Friedman suggests that to get embellishments under control, the NHL should change the rule so that when an infraction is embellished by the player who drew the penalty, the penalty should be nullified and only the embellishment should be called.
This would be a massive change, as it would change the whole way penalties are looked at. It adds more discretion onto the refs as to what they consider an embellishment, and could add more ways that referee mistakes or bias can affect the game.
However, this would be very effective in reducing dives. If you now have to be put on the penalty kill for embellishing a call, players would get the memo very quickly that they need to stop flopping like they have been. Friedman isn't the only insider to talk about this, as lots of insiders and fans have been discussing solutions that the NHL needs to take to address the issue.
It'll be interesting to see the direction the NHL chooses going forward, since they have stated they're going to crack down on the calls. They have to make a move before it's too late, and they lose the integrity of the physicality of the sport.
| POLL | ||
Do you think this rule would be effective or good for the game? | ||
| Yes, diving has gone too far | 279 | 85.6 % |
| No, it gives refs too much discretion | 47 | 14.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
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