Bruins winger Brad Marchand's slew-foot of Rangers center Derick Brassard Thursday deserves a significant suspension – especially when you consider Marchand has a history of committing that particularly egregious offense.
Brad Marchand is no stranger to the NHL's supplemental discipline process. The Bruins winger also isn't unfamiliar with being accused of slew-footing one of his opponents. So when Marchand did exactly that Thursday – this time, to Rangers star Derick Brassard – there's no doubt he deserves to be hauled before the NHL department of player safety and hit with a significant suspension for undeniably reckless play.
After the game, Brassard didn't mince words in conveying his feelings about the play.
“Well yeah [I felt it was dirty],” Brassard said. “You go in the corner with him and you go shoulder-to-shoulder, but he brings his leg in the back. I felt I got a slew-foot there. Like I said, I don’t want to find any excuses about it or I don’t want to be a cry-baby or anything, but it could be dangerous and it could have been a game-changer. It could have been a 5-on-3 and we probably could have been back in the game, but the referee said it was a clean hit, I guess.”
The referee was wrong, and as noted, this wasn't Marchand's first slew-footing job on a fellow professional. Marchand's 2011 slew-footing of then-Penguins blueliner Matt Niskanen resulted in a typically measly $2,500 fine and although he was quick to be contrite in the wake of the punishment – referring to his decision as a cheap-shot – he obviously didn't learn his lesson.
This latest incident would be another blight on Marchand's record regardless of the time of year it happened, but he remains Boston's leading scorer and at a time the Bruins are on a roll and need him in the lineup as they fight to firm up a playoff spot, doing something this wanton is as ill-advised and selfish as it gets. League disciplinarian Stephane Quintal should be hitting Marchand with a significant suspension to serve as a proper deterrent, but something tells me the punishment won't be enough and we'll be seeing the polarizing agitator involved in another incident and suspended again not too far down the line.
A pattern is being established here, and the actions of the league, players' association and the offender indicate neither is intent on putting an end to it once and for all.