Marchand Addresses Three-Game Suspension

BOSTON - Brad Marchand met with the media on Tuesday afternoon for the first time since the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced that the winger had been suspended three games for slew-footing Vancouver's Oliver Ekman-Larsson during Sunday night's win over the Canucks.
Marchand, speaking to reporters following Boston's morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena, said that he was surprised to receive any supplemental discipline.

"I was obviously surprised, just with the way things have played out with some of those calls recently. But my opinion on it doesn't really matter. Obviously, it doesn't change anything. It is what it is," said Marchand. "We saw it one way. They clearly saw it a different way…at this point, it doesn't really matter. Decisions have been made and it is what it is."
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said he is "respectful of the process and we'll respectfully disagree" regarding the league's decision, while captain Patrice Bergeron defended his longtime linemate and cited other recent slew-footing incidents that have received lesser or no punishment from the league.
"I will start with this: I respect their decision. It's not an easy job by any means," said Bergeron. "No matter what decision they come up with someone is always unhappy, right? So, I respect that part of it. I was surprised about three games. Three games is a lot. We've seen some plays this year that was awarded a lesser sentence or a lesser suspension, or not even the suspension for the [P.K.] Subban incident and [Kevin] Labanc and was one game.
"Let's remember that Marchy had been close to four years now without any suspension. In that time frame, he has become one of the best players in the league and a leader and that's what we have to remember. What happened before, I agree with some things that needed to change, and I think he made those changes.
"That's the way he plays. He's competitive, he wants to win every battle. Does he get into it at times? Probably. But has he crossed the line lately? I don't think so. He's been playing at an elite level and has grown as a leader dramatically."

Marchand acknowledged that during his hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Monday afternoon, officials from the league brought up his prior history - he's been suspended six times previously, including two games for slew-footing the Rangers' Derick Brassard in 2015 - as part of the discussion.
The Bruins' leading scorer said that he had hoped the league would consider his efforts to shed that reputation in recent years, pointing out that he has ranked third behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in points over the past several seasons while turning into a perennial Hart Trophy candidate.
"I have tried extremely hard over the last four years to get away from the reputation I've had," said Marchand, who was last suspended in Jan. 2018. "I think I've done an extremely good job at that. I know early on that I crossed over the line a lot of times and it's unfortunate that that continues to haunt me. If you go back, it's 310-plus games. So almost four years of good, hard - I mean, I play hard. There's no question. And I compete.
"I'm no longer the player that I was that had to break into the league, the way that I felt like I had to establish myself. I was hoping that at this point, they would have seen past what has gone on before that…I feel like I've complete transformed myself from the player I was to a player that should be respected in this league for his abilities."
Marchand did recognize, however, that his history will always be a part of the conversation.
"I'm not oblivious to my past and I don't deny that it's there and say that I deserved everything there," said Marchand. "In these hearings, it will always be brought up…I was hoping that it wouldn't be because I've worked to kind of get away from that and become a good player. I was kind of hoping that it would not be part of it and I would be given the benefit of the doubt.
"But again, that's not up for me to decide and I'm not going to criticize them. They're doing their job the way that they feel is fit. I just was a little caught off guard because of the way that things have been dealt with recently. So, I was hoping it would be dealt that way and not because of my previous issue."

Marchand went on to explain his thought process leading up to the play - which occurred just over a minute into Sunday's game - saying that there was no premeditation when it came to his contact with Ekman-Larsson.
"It is very easy to sit there and stop the camera and play it frame-by-frame and say I should have done this, and I should have done that," said Marchand. "And you can't hit him this way and you can't hit him that way because you're going into the boards, and he's falling - he's six-foot - what? Four? I don't know that he's going to fall when I hit him. I'm expecting him to hit me.
"I don't know that it's Ekman-Larsson. I'm not looking at him. I'm playing the puck. I have it. It's poked away from me and I'm trying to make contact with the player. I think he's going to hit me. I'm trying to hit him back. The way that our bodies get intertwined, he's bumping into me, I'm bumping into him. We're close to each other.
"I'm not going to sit there and say I was thinking this or that. I was trying to hit a guy that I thought was trying to hit me. That's how things play out sometimes. It's a fast game. Things happen in a split second. And when I go in to hit a guy, I'm not thinking, 'Oh I better lighten up here because my leg is a little bit behind his.' That's not how this thing plays out.
"If I lay up and I kind of lay up a bit and this guy buries me - I'm not going to do that. I'm going to hit a guy that I feel is trying to make contact with me. And that's what I did. I didn't kick his legs out. I didn't do anything like that. That's why I was a little bit caught off guard. Again, they saw it one way and we see it a different way."