The most commonly asked question I've received in my DMs on HockeyBuzz and Twitter over the past week has been about my views on the six-game suspension Boston Bruins recidivist Brad Marchand received from the NHL for his stick to the face of Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltender Tristan Jarry.
Here goes:
1) Nothing is beneath Marchand on the ice: Slew-footing, stickwork, sucker-punching. He has no concern or respect for fellow players' safety. Never has, never will. Why should we be surprised that he did what he did to Jarry?
2) Why should be we surprised that Marchand thinks his actions were "not suspension worthy") although he owned up to doing something "stupid"? That's pretty much Marchand's standard response to each of his seven NHL suspensions and five fines. He's also avoided any further league actions in several other incidents where it would not have hard to find precedent for suspensions.
3) The tail STILL wags the dog in the NHL. The Department of Player Safety has set a standard where supplementary discipline is meted out with very little clarity beyond this: If you are a star caliber player, you'll be cut more slack, time and time (and time... and time...) again. If you are still holding your breath waiting for the NHL to hand down a ban to Marchand that is anywhere close to the order of what Matt Cooke or Raffi Torres ultimately received (thanks to media outcry), you'll be like Leslie Nielsen's buried-in-the-sand character in Creepshow as the tide rolls in: "I can hold my breath for a looooooooong time!!!!"
4)I've had the opportunity to meet Marchand in an off-ice context. He's a nice guy away from the rink. That doesn't mean that I will ever like or condone the crap he pulls on the ice. The price he will ultimately pay will not be from a draconian suspension: it will be from a legacy of having his penchant for dirty play overshadow his many fine accomplishments on the ice.
And that is all I have to say about that.
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A 2018 inductee into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Visit Paul's official websites, YaWannaGo.com and Officiating by Stewart.