Exactly. And while maybe one doesn't technically meet the criteria of being a slew foot (as was the case with Marchand's move last night), he's already cost one player a couple months on IR and has quickly gotten a reputation for repeatedly making this kind of move, going back to junior.
If the league won't deal with Marchand and Tkachuk, some player will. Their reputations are out there.
Marchand has been doing this stuff for a decade and no player has dealt with it yet. It's not going to happen.
While it's debatable as to whether this latest one was technically a slew foot (I think it was but the literal interpretation of the NHL rules may say otherwise) I thought I would point out the new rule from Hockey Canada this year, which completely agree with. If this were a slew foot he would have received a Match. HC has taken a very serious view of this kind of play, I wish the NHL would follow suit.
Marchand has been doing this stuff for a decade and no player has dealt with it yet. It's not going to happen.
Prust did give him a spear in 2015 but it didn't seem to have an effect. Is Marchand the type of guy that would drop the gloves if challenged or would he turtle as Claude Lemieux famously did?
That's already the NHL rule, and has been so for years. If called a slew foot, the only penalty available to an NHL referee is a match penalty. Which is probably a big reason why such plays are called tripping instead.
That's already the NHL rule, and has been so for years. If called a slew foot, the only penalty available to an NHL referee is a match penalty. Which is probably a big reason why such plays are called tripping instead.
From the NHL Rule Book:
Quote:
Slew-footing - Slew-footing is the act of a player using his leg or foot
to knock or kick an opponent’s feet from under him, or pushes an
opponent’s upper body backward with an arm or elbow, and at the
same time with a forward motion of his leg, knocks or kicks the
opponent’s feet from under him, causing him to fall violently to the ice.
If you want to get technical, in neither case did Marchand knock the feet (plural) out from under the opponent, but just one foot, which is not as dangerous as the opponent isn't put into nearly as uncontrollable and violent a fall.
Marchand's been pretty good for the last couple years (to my recollection). The play on Kronwall was nasty, but I think the Stralman one was incidental.
^ I would agree witht eh above. one would hope he was told that the enxt time it happens he is gone, but I doubt that the nhl can make such warnings as I am assuming each instance must be dealt with individually
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Marchand has been doing this stuff for a decade and no player has dealt with it yet. It's not going to happen.
More to the point it's not like he'd care. Players in the NHL who want to stay in the NHL play their game no matter what unless instructed to do something different by their coach or teammates (if then). They won't be intimidated into playing another way by an opposition player.
Even when goon squads were prevalent the likes of Ken Linseman, Claude Lemieux and Esa Tikkanen didn't care.
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The relevance is a remember Bennett and Tkachuk doing this in the last 2 minutes of the game and their was no outrage then, it was "Meh, it wasn't that bad."
When you have dirtbag players on your team who do this stuff and you don't call them out on it you don't get to get angry when other dirtball players do the same stuff on other teams.
