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Reaction to Brad Marchand receiving no supplemental discipline for slew foot to Anton Stralman

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by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
February 1, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – No player is more polarizing in the league right now than Boston Bruin All-Star Brad Marchand.

Boston fans love the agitating winger who embraces the role as public enemy No. 1 from opposting team fans. He gets under the skin of opponents with his trash-talking ability and arrogant way he carries himself. But he backs up his play with top line abilities which earned him a spot riding shotgun to Sidney Crosby at the World Cup this summer and an All-Star berth last weekend in Los Angeles.

But then there is the side fans – and many other opposing players and teams – see all too often – the “dirty rat’’ side, as he’s been described by more than one person during his career. It’s that side of him that has him in hot water once again, even if he is not going to receive any further supplemental discipline – his slew foot of Anton Stralman during Tuesday’s game at Amalie Arena.

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Late in the second period, with the puck down in the Boston zone, Marchand skated over toward Stralman and as he passed by, put is right foot in to Stralman’s left skate, sending the Lightning defenseman sprawling backward on to the ice.

It’s a dangerous play. Unfortunately the league does not tend to discipline “tripping’’ plays, as Elliotte Friedman points out in his weekly 30 thoughts column on Sportsnet. (By the way, you should be reading this every week, and especially this week as Friedman drops a nugget about the likelihood of the team moving Ben Bishop).

And that’s part of the reason why it can be so infuriating to see Marchand, who was fined a week ago for a similar – though more dangerous – play on Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall that left Marchand $10,000 lighter in the wallet. Yet Marchand once away got away with a dangerous play that has resulted in a familiar debate – why does Marchand continue to get away with such dangerous action?

After the game, Stralman was asked about the play, which went unpenalized, even for an interference call. Moments later Stralman was called for tripping that led to a series of events that turned a 1-0 Tampa Bay lead to a 2-1 deficit in less than three minutes.

”It’s nowhere near the play so I can’t expect anybody to see it,’’ he said. But “there is contact and I fall. I can’t say if he did anything or not, but I’m not the puck holder, I’m out in the neutral zone and I get hit from behind. That’s all I have to say.’’

Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was asked on Wednesday if he was disappointed there was no further action taken against Marchand, who clearly has a history of skating on a thin line without much repercussions when he crosses over that line.

”That’s not in my control and I fully trust the league and (player) safety and what they do,’’ Cooper said. “Was it a marginal play? Yes, but to me it wasn’t as severe as the one on Kronwall. So if he wasn’t getting suspended for that I didn’t think he would get suspended for this one. It’s just the way (Marchand) plays, you have to be aware of where he is on the ice. And he’s probably walking a thin line, but I didn’t think it was suspendable.’’

The league agreed and not only didn’t hand Marchand any supplemental discipline, but didn’t reach out to speak to him in any capacity, according to Marchand who told Comcast New England before the Bruins faced the Capitals.

““I don’t know if you can see the whole play, but you can see the whole time that I’m watching the puck. I really didn’t even know that [Stralman] was there until we collided, so it was just kind of a hockey play,” said Marchand, who said he wasn’t contacted at all by NHL Player Safety about the Tampa incident. “I think last night the social media kind of blows things up more than it would normally be. At the same time with what happened with [Kronwall] it gets blown up a little bit too.

“With last week I completely respect how the league punished me. This is just a completely separate event. This is just a hockey play, and they are two completely different plays. So that’s just the way it is.”

You can view both incidents and judge for yourself.

There is more content below the videos.

Here is the slew foot on Kronwall



Here is the slew foot on Stralman

When it was announced Marchand would not receive any discipline for the action against Stralman, it certainly brought out some big-time debate on the Twitterverse, and most of it not supporting the lack of action:





That prompted some of these responses:






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