NHL enforcement police never sleep. And we're not taking about the guys with bloody knuckles.
Fresh off slapping a two-game suspension on Bruins left winger Brad Marchand (details to follow), the league's lords of discipline spent time Saturday deciding what to do about one of the usual suspects: Blackhawks forward Dan Carcillo.
If nothing else, Carcillo again brought the wrong kind of attention to himself for cross-checking Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault on Friday. The decision for the NHL: whether Carcillo deserves more than the two minutes he got for hammering down Perreault with his stick.
Prepare for something big.
For the prosecution: "It was a vicious cross-check to an unsuspecting player," Jets coach Paul Maurice told The Winnipeg Sun.
For the defense: "It was just kind of a hockey play and it was at the end of a shift," Carcillo told CSN-Chicago. "I must have just caught him between some padding. I've been hit there before too ... it hurts."
Carcillo was offered an in-person hearing, date and time to be determined. And that means the NHL is weighing a heavy sentence for Carcillo, one of more than five games. As a repeat offender in the NHL discipline system, Carcillo is at least guilty of failing to mind his manners.
Dan Carcillo says his crosscheck on Mathieu Perreault wasn't "malicious." Called it a "hockey play." Seriously. Words fail me.
— Ken Campbell (@THNKenCampbell) January 17, 2015While there was no immediate word on Perreault's injury, which is the notorious "upper body" variety, it would appear he will miss time. Really, he's lucky if his arm isn't broken. But we'll await the medical experts' testimony.
Given his action, Carcillo should miss significant time, too.
Quick question. Is Dan Carcillo an enforcer or one of those dirtbag rats that enforcers are supposed police themselves because NHL can't?
— Ken Campbell (@THNKenCampbell) January 17, 2015Now, about Marchand …
The Department of Player Safety conducted a phone interview with him on Friday, and per form Marchand got a two-game suspension for slew-footing the Rangers' Derick Brassard. Marchand will complete his sentence Tuesday.
Sitting in judgment of all wrong, the NHL decided that although Marchand too is a repeat offender, his crime wasn't deserving of severe punishment. The lords obvious did that hand gesture thing where they point two fingers at their eyes and then at Marchand.
We'll let the video do the talking.
The apparent mitigating factor? Brassard wasn't injured. Oh, and Marchand wasn't sent to the penalty box.
"I don't want to find any excuses about it, I don't want to be a crybaby or anything, but it could've been dangerous and it could be a game-changer," Brassard said, according to The Boston Globe. "It could've been a five-on-three and probably could be back in the game, but the referees said it was a clean hit, I guess.
"The way I fell on the ice I maybe could've missed the rest of the season if I hurt my knee there.
"Marchand's a pretty good player. He's feisty, competes hard, but those kind of things, we don't want that in our game."
True, but it's always interesting to try to solve the Rubik's cube of NHL discipline.