In last night’s Boston Bruins 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers, Bruins forward Brad Marchand found himself once again in hot water for delivering a late and harmful check to Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov in the tail end of the third period. Marchand was issued a 5 minute boarding major and a game misconduct for his actions. Kulikov was able to get up on his own and skated to the bench but he had a bloody face from being shoved face first into the boards.
#GottaSeeIt: #Bruins forward Brad Marchand gets a game misconduct after checking Dmitry Kulikov from behind. https://t.co/o4a8A2kqZp
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 31, 2015
Now it’s no secret that Marchand has a reputation in the NHL for giving out big and dirty hits, along with being just an overall douchebag. But for a guy with that plays dirty, why is it that he’s only been suspended twice in 7 years of playing? He was suspended for 5 games in January 2012 for dishing out a hip check to Sami Salo of the Vancouver Canucks shown below.
Brad Marchand hip checks Sami Salo w/SlowMo 1/7/12 @Myer27 http://t.co/DhyuVnLPqU — Mark Dyck (@Skidzy) April 28, 2015
He was also given a two game suspension in January 2015 for slew footing New York Rangers forward Derrick Brassard.
Brad Marchand has been suspended 2 games for his slew-foot on Rangers forward Derick Brassard. #NHLBruins <a
href=”https://t.co/VdTjTcQDnY”>https://t.co/VdTjTcQDnY</a></p>—
Now those are just three examples of how Marchand plays the game and there are loads more. Here are just a small handful.
In game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Marchand is shown here taking down Christian Ehroff and then giving a big hip check to Daniel Sedin just seconds apart from each other. The kicker? Both players did not possess the puck at the time they were hit.
Oh here’s another beauty similar to the Kulikov check. James Neal, then with the Pittsburgh Penguins, had just cleared the puck when Marchand came from behind and shoved him face first into the boards.
Another game, another late hip check by Marchand on Alexei Emelin.
Marchand slew footing Matt Niskanen, then with the Pittsburgh Penguins. See a pattern here?
Just for fun, here’s a video of Marchand getting a bit of karma sent his way courtesy of P.K. Subban.
Now that is seven instances of late hits by him and there are many more. So why has he not been suspended for these checks? The league has obviously been turning a blind eye too many times. I won’t lie, he does have skill. He didn’t score 20+ goals four times in his career by mistake. But just because he’s a decent offensive player doesn’t excuse him from discipline. All players should be treated equally when it comes to dealing with punishments for hits, whether it be Sidney Crosby or Raffi Torres, who got a well-deserved 41 game suspension for his hit on Jakob Silfverberg.
It has been announced that Marchand will not face any punishment for the hit.
Brad Marchand won’t face any additional discipline for his boarding hit on Kulikov last night, per a source. Just as I suspected at the time
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) October 31, 2015
As for this hit on Kulikov, it was undoubtedly dirty. He didn’t have the puck and was checked from behind into the boards. It could have been a lot worse than it was. A one, or two games at the max, suspension should have been issued, if not at least the maximum fine allowed under the CBA.
What are your thoughts on this?
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