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Stars to Receive $100K Fine for Optional Boxing Day Skate

taylor newby
·3 min read

Some say no publicity is bad publicity, but the Dallas Stars would beg to differ Sunday as reports have confirmed that the team will receive a $100,000 fine for holding an "optional" practice on Dec. 26.

The practice, optional or not, is a violation of Article 16.5(b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA. The section reads as follows:

(b) December 24, Christmas Day and December 26 shall be off-days for all purposes, including travel, and no Club may request a Player's consent to practice on such days for any reason, provided, however, if December 26 falls on a Saturday and the League has scheduled NHL Games on such date, December 23 may be substituted as an off-day for all purposes, including travel, instead of December 26.

Robert Tiffin of starsthoughts.com reported that when talking to members of the media at morning skate on December 27th, head coach Pete DeBoer stated that they held an optional practice in a flippant comment about how many young players they have added in recent seasons.

"I was at the rink yesterday, we had an optional, and of course the young guys all show up for the optionals, which they're supposed to do," DeBoer said.

"But as I started walking in, you know, up front you've got Bourque and Back and Stankoven and Wyatt Johnston's still a young guy. And on the back end you've got Bichsel, and Lundkvist and Harley are still young guys, so you know, we've incorporated a lot of young players into this lineup over the last couple of years."

Tiffin provided an update that a Stars spokesperson confirmed that the NHL was in fact conducting an investigation and that they would be fully cooperating. Later, Tiffin reported that DeBoer answered questions about the matter after practice and stated the practice on the 26th was optional.

"Yeah, voluntary ice." DeBoer said. "I'm assuming if the League's looking into it, I made a mistake somewhere there."

To add to the evidence against the Stars, Michael Russo of The Athletic reported that multiple teams provided The Athletic with a memo dated Dec. 23 from the NHL, reminding all 32 teams that no travel or ice time could be provided during the upcoming three day period blocked off by the CBA guidelines.

Russo, who covers the Minnesota Wild, also reported that head coach John Hynes told reporters in St. Paul on Saturday morning, the day after their 3-2 overtime win over the Stars, that they did not hear about the news until after the game.

The amount of the fine has not been determined, but the last team to violate this exact rule was the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2022 when they flew to St Louis on the night of December 26th. The fine came with a hefty price tag of $100,000. The Leafs admitted they chose to take the fine to allow their players a better travel schedule.

Whether it was intentional or not, the violation of providing optional ice for players was against the rules and Dallas will now have to pay for the error.

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