Pat Maroon and Matvei Michkov Get Punished by the Department of Player Safety on Monday
The NHL's Department of Player Safety has given out plenty of fines in 2024/25, and now Philadelphia Flyers star Matvei Michkov and Chicago Blackhawks veteran Pat Maroon are the latest victims.
For the past few years, we've seen the NHL's Department of Player Safety come under plenty of criticism, with the league even having to release a video to explain some of their recent decisions.
Now, they've made two huge calls on Monday, officially handing out two maximum fines, with the first being to rookie sensation Matvei Michkov as a result of high-sticking Los Angeles Kings star Quinton Byfield.
The fine came in at $2,473, and while Michkov has been a fantastic producer in his rookie campaign, there's definitely some things he needs to clean up before becoming a huge star in the league.
The next fine was handed to veteran Patrick Maroon as a result of elbowing on rookie Mavrik Borque of the Dallas Stars, with the veteran continuing to grow his reputation around the league.
That fine came in at $3,385, and was just another in a long line of fines throughout the career of Maroon, who has established himself as one of the remaining enforcers in the NHL.
While neither were handed suspensions, it appears that the Department of Player Safety have found their consistency as of late, with some questionable decisions early in the season now being rectified.
Given the amount we see fined in other leagues, it's safe to say that players in the NHL would much rather be fined these small amounts than the five-figure fines we see handed out in the NHL, but at the very least, these players and teams can be satisfied that no suspensions were handed out.
