If the NHL gave an award for “Best Actor”, the Ottawa Senators’ Tim Stutzle would be a favourite to win it. The young German star has become a prima donna on skates giving Oscar-worthy performances in which he tries to convince referees that he has been so egregiously wronged that justice demands a penalty be called! (so where is it ref?)
When not playing that role, he tries to convince anyone who will listen that he couldn’t possibly be guilty of any foul of which he’s accused and even if he were, why should he be the only one going to the sin bin when his equally guilty opponent (who, by the way, started the whole thing) isn’t?
While sometimes amusing, this schtick is getting tiresome. Not only that, it’s unbecoming of a star player, bad for his brand, and bad for his team. The league’s referees seem less willing to buy it from Stutzle and it’s a distraction that sometimes puts him in the penalty box if not for embellishment, then retaliation. The Senators have enough problems with penalties from undisciplined play and Stutzle is too often the guy getting them.
It’s time for him to grow up, get control of his emotions, and focus on doing what the Senators pay him to do. That’s playing hockey like the future star player he is expected to become.
Tim Stutzle the Olympic Diver?
Is Stutzle the diver some claim? It depends on how you define diving I suppose. Diving, or flopping as it is sometimes known, involves a player who tries to get the attention of a referee by embellishing an infraction by an opponent (or what looks like an infraction, but really isn’t) in order to draw a penalty.
The Montreal Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher thinks Stutzle is a diver saying his antics after a game in 2022 were embarrassing. (Hey kettle, the pot is on the line for you!) Here’s what he had to say.
Stutzle wouldn’t be the first young star to shamelessly try to sell NHL referees on penalties that weren’t. Any time an opponent skated close to Sidney Crosby in his first few years in the league he would throw his head back feigning he’d been viciously elbowed. Crosby’s performances annoyed Philadelphia Flyers fans so much that whenever he and his Pittsburgh Penguins were in town they would hold up “No Diving” signs like those posted in the shallow end of local swimming pools.
Even so, during his first two seasons in the league, it’s fair to ask whether Stutzle’s dives were as much a case of the skinny young centreman getting tossed around by bigger opponents than him deliberately flopping on the ice at the first hint of an opposing skater touching him. It’s probably a bit of both.
Dismissing Stutzle as an amateurish flop artist doesn’t do him justice. If a player is good at diving, that is to say, draws a penalty without himself being sent to the box for embellishment, then he should be celebrated for his finesse. Drawing penalties is a valuable skill and it seems Stutzle excels at it, ranking 11th in the NHL last season in penalties drawn with 35. He took 27 minor penalties for a plus-8 value in terms of penalty differential.
Despite his reputation, Stutzle has been penalized only twice for embellishment. It simply hasn’t been a major part of his rap sheet. He gets called far more for run-of-the-mill crimes such as tripping, hooking and cross-checking.
Time for a Truce in Stutzle’s War With NHL’s Referees
It’s Stutzle’s reaction to being called for ordinary penalties that is probably a bigger problem than his diving. Mock fury, eye-rolling, arms spread wide in disbelief and the dramatic slamming of his stick on the ice at the injustice of a penalty call are all part of his repertoire as one of the NHL’s leading actors.
Through all of this he has developed a reputation as a player who makes sure that the referees and anyone else who will listen know that something terribly unjust has happened to him. Yet he should know that cries of wolf eventually get ignored. Whether consciously or not, referees will want to show Stutzle that his jawboning doesn’t pay. It won’t dissuade them from assessing him a penalty even when they’re borderline calls that they may let go when committed by other players.
As Luke Richardson, head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks put it, “I always remind the players to let us deal with bad calls by the referees – you stick to the game and play. And referees are probably appreciative that there’s not 20 guys on the bench yelling” (from “NHL to its 32 coaches: Shut the (bleep) up!”, The Athletic, 17/10/2023).
Stutzle would do well to heed Richardson’s advice because his over-the-top reactions to being penalized, or not getting the calls on other players he thinks are warranted, sometimes lead him to take dumb retaliation penalties. A case in point were two retaliatory cross-checking penalties he took in the Senators’ home opener on Oct. 14 against the Flyers’ Sean Walker. Both were acts of pure selfishness taken because he lost control of his emotions after not getting the calls he wanted from the referees.
Related: Senators Chartier is a Potential Breakout Star
Stutzle needs to understand that as the Senators star centreman, other teams, especially those as untalented as the Flyers and coached as they are by the John Tortorellas of this world, are going to do everything they can to annoy him. Veterans are going to test young talent physically to see how they respond. It’s a tradition going back to Gordie Howe, who welcomed every newcomer to the league with an elbow. Like every young NHL star before him, he will need to learn to play through it and keep his composure.
Nobody is suggesting that Stutzle should shy away from mixing it up physically with opponents. And he has shown that he can give as good as he gets. Still, he needs to stay out of the penalty box for retaliating.
So far this season he has racked up eight minutes in penalties – second only to Mark Kastelic. Even more troublesome is that in the first four games of the season, the top line he plays on has spent an entire period in the penalty box.
Stutzle Should Give Up Acting – Stick to Hockey
Stutzle needs to demonstrate the stoicism of other stars in the league in the face of non-calls and bad calls by the league’s referees. He needs to realize that he has no control over these and reacting to them with theatrical performances and berating the men in stripes only hurts him and at times his team.
If he must act, consider the Ron Maslin Playhouse in Kanata. They are looking for actors for their summer season.
