Already without Patrice Bergeron for at least Thursday’s showdown against Carolina, the Bruins are now going to be short another star forward moving forward — and for an extended stretch of time.
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced on Wednesday evening that Brad Marchand has been suspended for six games after exploding against Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry in the final minute of Tuesday’s 4-2 loss against Pittsburgh.
Brad Marchand delivers a punch to Tristan Jarry and then gets him with his stick.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 9, 2022
Yikes. pic.twitter.com/6FMftuLHVI
Marchand, who was handed a match penalty after both roughing and high-sticking Jarry in what was essentially garbage time, will now be on the shelf for close to two weeks — missing matchups against Carolina (2/10), Ottawa (2/12), Rangers (2/15), Islanders (2/17), Ottawa (2/19) and Colorado (2/21).
Pretty brutal timing — especially given the number of measuring-stick contests against teams like the Hurricanes, Rangers and Avs. Add in the fact that there’s no set timeline for Bergeron’s return from an upper-body injury, and the B’s are desperately going to be treading water coming out of the break.
A six-game suspension certainly might make some do a double-take — but it was hardly a surprise that the NHL threw the book at Marchand, even before the Department of Player Safety announced Wednesday morning that the B’s winger was going to be offered an “in-person” hearing.
As the league’s official video pertaining to the suspension noted, Marchand’s lengthy rap sheet and his status as a “repeat offender” in the eyes of the NHL made it pretty obvious that some hefty discipline was going to be handed out.
Marchand has now been suspended eight times in his career for 28 total games, and fined another five times. For as much as the B’s star winger has talked about his efforts toward cleaning up his game, Marchand was already in the league’s crosshairs, especially after getting suspended back in late November for slew-footing Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Here is the full list of Marchand’s prior suspensions:
March 17, 2011: 2 games for elbowing R.J. Umberger
Jan. 9, 2012: 5 games for low-bridging Sami Salo
Jan. 15, 2015: 2 games for slew-footing Derick Brassard
Dec. 29, 2015: 3 games for clipping Mark Borowiecki
April 5, 2017: 2 games for spearing Jake Dotchin
Jan. 23, 2018: 5 games for elbowing Marcus Johansson
Nov. 28, 2021: 3 games for slew-footing Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Add in his repeated criticism of the league in wake of the NHL pulling the plug on player participation in the 2022 Olympics — and you can put two and two together when it comes to the NHL’s harsh ruling on Wednesday night.
It’s another tough hit for Marchand as he looks to put his reputation as an on-ice menace in the rearview mirror — but it’s an even tougher hit for his team, now forced to trudge through a brutal slog of the season with two of its top forwards out of commission.
