We'll preface this by saying that every player in the NHL, and especially the great ones, will embellish plays in an attempt to draw a power play for their teams. Which is to say that a dive doesn't necessarily make one a chronic diver.
With that out of the way: Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks had a beauty of a flop against the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 on Sunday night, after this Johan Franzen chop on his shin:
That's Franzen off for slashing and Thornton off for that tremendous bit of embellishment. We haven't seen that level of acting while surrounded by Sharks since Richard Dreyfuss.
Keep in mind the NHL VP of hockey operations Colin Campbell had let it be known that the league is tired of the diving trend in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. From Eric Francis of the Toronto Sun:
"Diving is increased in the playoffs as the stakes are higher, and when players get desperate, they take their credibility and their honour and they throw it out the window," the NHL's VP of Hockey Operations said Saturday.
"Through our supervisors, we warned all the teams not to embellish. It's becoming rampant, and we're going to start calling it. We'll ramp it up next round. You may not like it, but we'll point out the guys who we feel will embellish calls."
"They take their credibility and their honour and they throw it out the window" ... from the guy with his hand on the Wheel of Justice, no less.
Stick-tap to reader Kohei Nakamura for the clip.