Brad, Brad, Brad, Brad, Brad, Brad, Brad *shakes head in disapproval*
If you’re not keeping up with the times, then the Boston Bruins will be without Brad Marchand for five games because he did something stupid.
He elbowed a New Jersey Devils player named Marcus Johansson in the head during a game against the Devils this week. The Bruins won the game and there wasn’t even a penalty called for it. Obviously, it was still a really dumb thing to do because it was a one-goal game and there was less than two minutes left. But yeah, the NHL saw it, they decided, that it was done maliciously and announced the suspension on Wednesday.
If you didn’t see it, here it is:
Now, we could honestly argue intent here all day. Obviously, Jack Edwards isn’t gonna say anything if there is because he’s pretty much a Bruins cheerleader (really nice guy though, from what I’ve heard).
The intent doesn’t matter all that much but let’s be real, smashing someone with your elbow is never a good idea. If he was concerned about slashing the goaltender, dropping the stick probably would’ve been a better idea.
But yeah, this does nothing good for the Bruins. They’re without a great player for five games and that could really hurt the excellent moment they have put together recently. The AP reports they were on a 17-game point streak prior to the suspension. They also note that Marchand loses out on $373k as a result of this suspension. That’s a lot of money to lose.
Marchand will be able to come back and play again on February 7 when the Bruins face the New York Rangers. That game is at the salt, AKA MSG, AKA Madison Square Garden. So you could imagine he is probably going to get booed pretty badly if those simpleton NY sports fans even follow the league.