The $3,385.42 amount has everything to do with the NHL's collective bargaining agreement.
The NHL Department of Player Safety came down on Montreal Canadiens enforcer Arber Xhekaj on Sunday, issuing the player a fine of $3,385.42, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement.
The incident in question came on Saturday night during the Toronto Maple Leafs' 2-1 win against the Canadiens in pre-season action.
In the first period, Maple Leafs forward Cedric Pare was holding the blue line with his knee out when Canadiens forward Patrik Laine skated into his path. A knee-on-knee collision resulted in Laine's knee bending awkwardly. The forward was forced to leave the game with some assistance.
After the incident, when Pare stepped onto the ice, Xhekal confronted the Leafs forward with repeated punches to the back of Pare's head (with his gloves on). Xhekaj was ejected from the game after he was assessed an aggressor penalty in addition to a minor penalty, a major for fighting and a ten-minute misconduct.
Pare wasn't surprised after the game that Xhekaj sought retribution for the play when speaking with TSN's Mark Masters, but some might be surprised at the lack of discipline levied on Xhekaj.
The NHL Department of Player Safety essentially had a call to make. To suspend or not, and they chose not to.
Under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, the NHL can only fine a player up to 50 percent of his daily salary.
There are 192 days in the NHL season for salary cap calculation purposes this season. Xhekaj carries a salary cap hit of $1.3 million. So $1.3 million divided by 192 days X 0.5 percent = 3,385.4167, or in this case $3,385.42.
If the league decided to suspend Xhekaj for one game, the money surrendered would have been doubled, plus being forced to miss said game.
Xhekaj has no suspension history. Given the emotions behind the game, it's likely that played a role in him avoiding a suspension. But I'm a little surprised only because the Canadiens and Leafs will meet again in their respective season openers on Oct. 8. Forcing Xhekaj to miss that one might have sent a message while avoiding any spillover on opening night.
But fines don't do much of anything because they are so weak compared to the money surrendered via suspension. If the NHL wanted to take that stuff out of the game, the fines need to be increased.
The current CBA expires at the end of the 2025-26 season.
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