Boston Bruins top left winger Brad Marchand has been suspended three games for a slew foot on Oliver Ekman-Larsson during the Vancouver Canucks game on Sunday night.
Possibly the most shocking aspect of this suspension is the precedent already set by the league. Yes, It was a dangerous slew foot by Marchand; however, New Jersey Devils defender PK Subban gets away with slew footing opponents all the time and only gets a fine of $5,000. This suspension is most likely because of Brad Marchand’s history of dirty plays in the past. It’s crazy, too, because Ekman-Larsson was so healthy after the slew foot that he could destroy Anton Blidh into the boards later that game, and of course, Ekman-Larsson gets nothing. This discipline is a terrible move by “NHL Player Safety,” in my opinion. Now I am not trying to defend Brad Marchand in any way, but a three-game suspension for a basic slew foot on a guy that got right back up after it with no injury is insane; I mean, come on, you could have given him one game if you had wanted to make a point.
How many games did Anton Blidh miss after he was destroyed by Ekman-Larson? Marchand is a idiot and needs to clean up his act!
I am not the author of this one, but I will agree that Marchand had a time in his career where it was a big problem. That said, he’s played in 300+ games since his last incident over four years and has become a top-5 player in the league. I would like to see more consistency in the handling of their superstars.