NHL Department Of Player Safety Drops The Ball With Brad Marchand
The NHL Department of Player Safety elected to take no action against Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand after he slew-footed Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay Lightning fans have an unusually tough skin. For years, Lightning fans have been barraged with all manner of sarcastic comments and insults ranging from being “bandwagon” fans to not being in a “hockey market.” Needless to say, it takes quite a lot to truly upset a Lightning fan.
Surprisingly enough, the National Hockey League Department of Player Safety has made this seemingly impossible feat look effortless over the course of the 2016-17 season. Tampa Bay Lightning fans have been forced to watch their players subjected to all kinds of illegal hits with no response from the NHL.
Unfortunately, the NHL Department of Player Safety has finally crossed a line many Lightning fans feel there is no coming back from. The blatant disregard for their main reason for existing, Player Safety, seems to have become an afterthought for them.
Tampa Bay Lightning
As most Tampa Bay Lightning fans know by now, on Tuesday night, Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman was blatantly slew-footed by Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand. This wasn’t incidental contact, by any means. Marchand knew what he was doing, he just didn’t care.
As usual, the referees (we’re looking at you, Dan O’Halloran) “didn’t see anything” and in return, there was no call on the play. Of course, when Stralman makes contact with a player during the course of an actual play, they couldn’t pull their whistles out fast enough. However, we’re getting away from the real point here.
So…once the final buzzer sounded and the Tampa Bay Lightning fans turned their attentions to the next day, many hoped they would hear news from the NHL Department of Player Safety regarding Marchand’s reckless and careless actions. Thankfully, Lightning fans weren’t holding their breath…they’d all be dead by now.
Now, why does this one particular incident sting more than every other inaction the NHL Department of Player Safety has made this season? Well, it’s because Brad Marchand has been in this exact same situation less than a week earlier.
On January 24th, the Boston Bruins took on the Detroit Red Wings at the TD Garden in Boston. During the first period, Brad Marchand decided it was advisable to slew-foot Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall. Kronwall was in the neutral zone, nowhere near the play. In other words, Marchand had no excuse for contact.
Considering this isn’t the first time Marchand has been called to the carpet for his dirty playstyle, any reasonable person would’ve assumed he would be suspended for his actions, even if it was only a small handful of games. As one could easily imagine, this is not what occurred.
More From Bolts By The Bay: Anton Stralman Slew-Footed By Brad Marchand (Video)
In lieu of suspending Marchand, because Lord forbid the NHL suspend someone right before the All-Star game, forcing them to stay home and think about their actions, the NHL Department of Player Safety elected to fine him $10,000, which is the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Somehow, we don’t think fining a serial violator a mere .2% of their annual salary the way to truly send a message. Ironically enough, Brad Marchand would do everything he could to prove us right no sooner than his team returned from the All-Star Weekend.
Just in case you happened to miss what happened between Anton Stralman and Brad Marchand, here’s another look. We’re pretty certain you’ll understand exactly what we mean once you’ve seen it.
So…here we are just a matter of days after Marchand is fined by the NHL Department of Player Safety for slew-footing Niklas Kronwall, and he does the exact same thing to Anton Stralman. From where we’re sitting, this seems like a slap in the face of Player Safety.
Now, did NHL Player Safety do anything about this? No, no they did not. What this says to Tampa Bay Lightning fans is two-fold. First, it says the NHL Department of Player Safety doesn’t care when a player basically flicks them off with their actions and proclaims they can do what they want when they want.
The second is the Department of Player Safety honestly couldn’t care less about the function in which they were tasked with and even resides in their name, Player Safety. While Anton Stralman wasn’t injured during the incident, the potential is there.
With head injuries being such a serious issue in sports today, one would think the potential of someone’s head bouncing off the ice would be something that would garner a little more attention. Thankfully, Anton Stralman had the presence of mind to protect himself from this.
Ever since Brendan Shanahan left the NHL Department of Player Safety to become President of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014, the real work being done by the much-needed division of the NHL has seriously lacked any form of consistency and real authority, leaving the league largely in the hands of the offenders.
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As a fan of hockey in general, we are terrified at the prospect of our favorite players taking the ice from one night to another. Let’s be honest here for a minute, hockey is a full-contact sport. Players are going to be injured from time to time. Unfortunately, things escalate to a whole new level when players throw the rules by the wayside and there is no one willing to hold them accountable for their actions.