Breaking: NHL hands down max fine for dangerous move!

There are some things you just do not do in the National Hockey League, if not, you have to be willing to pay for the consequences. 

This is exactly what Los Angeles Kings forward Kyle Clifford needs to do. On Friday, the veteran forward was fined $4,301.08 for kneeing Minnesota Wild rookie Jordan Greenway on Thursday night.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced the fine Friday, noting it is the maximum allowable under the CBA.

The incident took place during the first period of the Wild’s 4-1 win over the Kings Thursday. Clifford was given a two-minute minor penalty for the play and dropped the gloves with Wild defenseman Nick Seeler just seconds after Greenway fell to the ice. Seeler came to the defense of his teammate and did not hesitate to go after Clifford. 

The Kings forward, who carries a $1.6 million cap it through the 2019-20, scored his first goal of the season later during the contest against the Wild. It was the only tally for Los Angeles who has been struggling greatly this season. On Saturday, after the Kings were handed a 5-1 loss by the visiting Buffalo Sabres, the team barred the dressing room doors post-game while the players and GM Rob Blake had a secret meeting about their awful season start.  After registering a 2-1-1 record through the first four games in 2018-19, Los Angeles has dropped four consecutive games in embarrassing fashion: they lost on the roads at the hands of the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. They lost home games against the New York Islanders and Sabres by a combined score of 21-5. To make things worse the Dallas Stars snapped a three-game losing skid by doubling up the Kings 4-2 on Tuesday, and were beaten by the Wild 4-1 last night, getting handed their sixth consecutive loss…

So far this season, Clifford has the one goal and a minus-1 rating to go along with 14 penalty minutes. His name has been mentioned a few times in trade circles as the Kings desperately look for a solution to bring more speed on the roster. 

Fortunately, Greenwas was not injured on the play. Hew was assigned back to the AHL early on Friday.