[Article] Ryan Kesler singled out as diver in NHL’s crackdown on embellishment

[oldnews]

i agree they need to get rid of diving. but i also think they should get rid of bad officiating! which i believe is a reason some players embellish! what does it take to finally get a call!!! if theyre gonna make a spectacle of certain players, they should of certain referees too! in fact some of theyre calls and no calls really need to reviewed and decided if they actually missed or persuading the game.Very inconsistent! not only from game to game, ref to ref but within single games and single referees inconsistent officiating. Betman's boytoy refs should not be protected!!!!! the INTEGRITY of the game is what needs to be protected! protected from the players AND refs!

[Special Ed]

Not a big fan of Kesler after last season.

[poetica]

Question: Is it just people's "feeling" that Kesler is a big diver or are they offering video proof that he's diving more than other players in the league? Because, as others pointed out, occasionally diving is a tactic used by many players and some of the teams (I'm looking right at you, Chicago!) who are quick to point the finger are the biggest offenders themselves.

Singling out individual players without definitive proof that they are worse than others just makes this another game tactic to be used by allowing some players to accuse other players and in doing so all but ensure that player won't get a call even when it's deserved. And haven't we already seen the result of that, especially during our last SC run? It still seems like even though the majority of what was said about them wasn't even close to true, neither Sedin can get a a call from a ref with a 4G cell phone, a full battery and a promise of phone sex.

[CanucksSayEh]

This isn't about getting or not getting calls. It's bottom line embarrassing, especially for a big, jacked star player like Kes. I don't care how many others do it, doesn't make it any more acceptable.

So many times when guys flop down and stay down, they won't get the call, in the meantime its 5v4 because someone is laying on the ice looking for a ref, the other team goes down the ice and scores. Whenever Lou does it, it seems like he doesn't care that the play is still going on, focusing on the refs instead of the puck. Yea great tactic.

[Bodee]

I can't stand diving. It has ruined football (soccer to the uninformed) A trait brought into the game by the latin countries who found they couldn't compete physically without fouling.

[coyotecanuck]

Marchand dives more often than Kes. But yes, Kes was diving a lot last year.

The Canucks in general were frustrated, their power play was obliterating the league and the refs put their whistles in their pockets to cool it down.

[n00bxQb]

Despite popular belief I don't often see the Sedins dive that much.

[UFCanuck]

Daniel doesn't ... Henrik embellishes all the time ...

[Mauii]

I would rather have diving in the game than guys head-hunting, concussing star players and letting slashes and hacks go in the playoffs.

Get your priorities straight NHL. You want to keep the integrity of your league, cut down on "letting things go" in the playoffs and these disgusting, potentially career-ending head hits before you worry about guys harmlessly acting.

[Salmonberries]

Ryan is an Olympic class diver.

[combover]

one more jab at the most hated team in the league. the list of non divers in this league is shorter then the diver list

iginla crosby ovechkin big names that go down easy

turco was one of the worst or best depending on how you look at it

the kings won the cup because of there diving skills.

officiating is the biggest cancer in this league

stories that involve the nucks and diving are senseless reading, easy to pick on the kid everyone hates call out the kings for what they did and you'll be duct-taped to the light post.

[Master Mind]

They should have picked a player from the national diving team located in Boston, but it doesn't really matter who the "chief diver" is.

And if they want to stop diving, then give the player a 5 min penalty. 2 of those mins would be PP time, but the other 3 would be 5 on 5 but with that player sitting in the box. Makes a lot more sense than a 4 min PP.

And there are so many other issues they should be dealing with before diving. If this is top of the list, there's no hope for the nhl

[Nosaj]

Exactly why I don't look too far into this.

[D-Bo7]

The reason why Vancouver is called out more than any other team is because every fan already hates them anyways. It comes with the territory when you're the league's top team two years in a row.

The truth is every team does have divers and weasels, but if those teams never win, then nobody really cares.

Don't even get me started on Crosby. There's a reason why he's so hated by players around the league. Of course the NHL wouldn't call out their golden boy though.

[thema]

Diving has been a key part of Canuck strategy since Mike "thinking outside the box" Gillis showed up and why not? How many diving penalties have the Canucks received since he got here? Not many, right? Now, how many power plays have we received as a result of our guys diving? Only about a zillion. One reason that diving became a palpable strategy for the Canucks was the fact that our power play was lethal and diving simply gave us more PP chances so why wouldn't a team use diving as a strategy. Problem is there are drawbacks like the Burrows/Auger incident which was a direct result of a terrible Burrows dive (which ended up winning the game for us) or the fact that we were diving so much in the finals against Boston that the refs refused to call ANYTHING even when there were legitimate calls to be made. Watch game 6 of the final and tell me how many times Burrows alone dives; I remember losing count after about 10. When five of your team's best players (Kes, Burr, Lou, Hank and Lappy) are all falling all over the place no ref is going to be gullible enough to not see the pattern and you will end up getting no calls (and will find yourself badly out of position on the opposition's goals like Kesler was a couple of times during the LA series). In short diving is an alright strategy during the regular season against less than elite refs but once into the playoffs it becomes a huge albatross around the neck of the team and is actually quite detrimental to the team's game. And please quit whining about the Bruins being "thugs" etc.; last I checked it was US that got a suspension for laying a headshot on a guy that knocked him out (and indeed it was us that had TWO suspensions for headshots in something like 5 playoff games against BOS and LA). In fact the majority of our recent suspensions have been for dirty hits to the head. We can't play tough so we dive and we cheapshot; I for one am glad that Gillis is finally trying to beef this team up.

[ChuckNORRIS4Cup]

Obviously lots of players in the NHL and in all sports for that matter, embellish a lot of things to get calls from refs or umpires. Some are more blatant than others, but some don't do it as often and can get away with it, without looking like a fool. In Keslers case he had been known to embellish some here and there and wasn't really good at doing it in my opinion, but it was the one he did in game 3 of the playoffs against LA that finally had me saying enough is enough this is embarrassing. Now coming from a fans perspective and I find it embarrassing to see a player of Keslers caliber diving like that in a Canucks uniform, how the hell do you think his teammates feel? Probably ashamed to be seeing a so called leader on their team diving all over the place to get calls from the ref. Basically the SWAN DIVE as many people call it, was the pushing limit for me on Keslers antics and I had enough of it and I have lost respect for the guy until he proves me wrong, I just hope this is a wake up call for him to get his act together, because it's sad watching him do it.

This is the one I'm talking about and yes the OP has it up there too. But if you watch it closely, Kesler actually goes out of his way to try and snow shower Quick, before he decides to Swan Dive from a little push, now that's bush league hockey and just pure embarrassment.

[Burnsey]

well sometimes the truth hurts....

Kesler is a good player but his effectiveness is decreased when he dives. If just played hockey and did the right things that he is capable of doing he wouldn't be labelled a diver and would be much more effective. I mean why dive? If you want to dive, join a swimming team.

[thema]

Obviously lots of players in the NHL and in all sports for that matter, embellish a lot of things to get calls from refs or umpires. Some are more blatant than others, but some don't do it as often and can get away with it, without looking like a fool. In Keslers case he had been known to embellish some here and there and wasn't really good at doing it in my opinion, but it was the one he did in game 3 of the playoffs against LA that finally had me saying enough is enough this is embarrassing. Now coming from a fans perspective and I find it embarrassing to see a player of Keslers caliber diving like that in a Canucks uniform, how the hell do you think his teammates feel? Probably ashamed to be seeing a so called leader on their team diving all over the place to get calls from the ref. Basically the SWAN DIVE as many people call it, was the pushing limit for me on Keslers antics and I had enough of it and I have lost respect for the guy until he proves me wrong, I just hope this is a wake up call for him to get his act together, because it's sad watching him do it.

This is the one I'm talking about and yes the OP has it up there too. But if you watch it closely, Kesler actually goes out of his way to try and snow shower Quick, before he decides to Swan Dive from a little push, now that's bush league hockey and just pure embarrassment.

[Mr.DirtyDangles]

referee objectively - call the play on the merits of the play, regardless of 'reputation' - calling the game by reputation is bs - if a guy dives, call him every time - if a guy doesn't usually dive, call a penalty anyway - deal with the discipline for repeat offenders separately - the last thing the NHL needs is to further empower referees to get even more subjective.

is a guy like Shawn Thornton exempt because he's a drop the gloves, physical player and not the stereotype of a diver?

imo this is about as flagrant as a dive gets...

how many dives does it take to make the list?

there are very few players that never embellish

I don't see this list thing as a practical way of handling the problem - yes Kesler's antics pissed me off, particularly this post season after it appeared he might be growing past that crap - but this list nonsense is just going to lead to politicking and a tug of war over who belongs on the list - and NHL officials have a list in their heads anyhow - in the end just call it regardless of reputation - and then review it and discipline it taking repeat offender status into account.

[Mr.DirtyDangles]

Had to love Willie Mitchell's quote on this: "I know Kes; maybe he slipped on a banana peel...". If the show was on the other foot Gillis would have called a press conference to whine about the reffing.