NHL Divers Risk Very Little

Oxonomics is a terrific blog written by a group of Oxford graduate students.  A recent posting, Why do footballers dive?, discusses the tendency of soccer players to dive in an effort to draw fouls.  The author asks "Why do footballers dive more than other sportsmen?"

The author's answer is that the risks associated with diving in soccer are far outweighed by the potential rewards.  The risk - a yellow card and "opprobrium from neutrals and the media" are modest.  The reward - a free kick or a penalty shot if the "foul" occurs in the 18-yard box - are magnified by soccer's low scores.  Faced with this risk-reward ratio, many soccer players opt to take the fall. 

The NHL attempted to deal with the diving problem in hockey in 2006 by making it a penalty.  In addition to a two-minute minor, players caught diving receive a letter from the league (Oooh Scary!).  Second offenders receive the penalty and a $1,000 fine while three-timers are hit with a whopping $2,000 fine.  With an average salary is $1.9 million, does the league really expect such piddling fines to alter behaviour?  Player can also receive supplementary discipline.

NHL referees have undermined the introduction of the diving penalty.  According to Hockey Numbers, 77% of the 109 diving calls made in 2007 were accompanied by an offsetting minor to the opposing player "involved" in the diving incident.  In 2006, 82% of diving calls came with an offsetting minor penalty.  (Does anyone have the data on diving for 2007-2008?) 

Faced with the likelihood that a dive will rarely result in a power play for the opposing team, players like Sean Avery, Mike Ribeiro, Jarkko & Tuomu Ruutu and Kristian Huselius continue to fall down. 

Oxonomics argues that the reward for a successful dive is very high - particularly when the dive occurs in the 18-yard box and results in a penalty kick.  With close to three-quarters of all penalty kicks resulting in goals, the incentive to dive is huge.  NHL hockey is also a relatively low-scoring game and power plays result in goals 17.7% of the time, it is not not surprising that players continue to embellish. 

While diving may not be as prevalent in hockey as it is in soccer, it is problem the league can and should fix.  When players take dives referees shouldn't neutralize their own calls by assessing offsetting minors. 

Comments

[Tom LeDrew]

Great article I agree 100%. Start calling these "guys" for the dives and they will hopefully learn and we can see some good honest hockey. I am tired of see people laying all over the ice.