New Jersey Devils forward Marcus Johansson has not played since January 23rd, when he was elbowed in the head. In his first comments since the “hit,” he was brutally honest.
Brad Marchand is a goon. It’s really hard to deny that, no matter how hard Boston Bruins fans try. He’s been fined or suspended for illegal hits nine times. He’s a star player who gets taken off the ice for dirty plays. New Jersey Devils forward Marcus Johansson did not parse words when asked about the Marchand elbow that took him out of action for at least two months.
Here are #NJDevils Marcus Johansson's unabridged thoughts on the Bruins' Brad Marchand hit that left him with a 2nd concussion in 3 months. This is one of the most honest, raw and thorough takedowns of another NHL player/a dirty hit as you'll see. pic.twitter.com/sjgTuLqHe8
— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) March 26, 2018
Just look at some of those comments he made to Chris Ryan of NJ.com and Corey Masisak of the Athletic. He calls the play by Marchand “stupid.” Right off the bat, it’s clear Johansson has less than nice things to say about the player who took him out. There wasn’t a “these things happen” or “hockey goes that way sometimes.” Nope, he went right after Marchand.
Here’s the quote that says it all to me.
"“I hope it doesn’t come to him ending someone else’s career before it is enough.”"
Just look at that sentence for a second. He believes Marchand is playing so dirty, he could end up ending a promising career in its tracks. Saying “someone else’s” career makes me believe this dirty hit made Johansson stare his hockey mortality in the face.
For those who aren’t aware of the hit in question, just look at this.
This gives you a slow motion look at the progressions of Marchand. He sees Ken Appleby dive on the puck, lifts his elbow, changes his trajectory and dives upwards towards Johansson. That elbow would knock out Connor McGregor.
When asked if he thinks that a five-game suspension was enough, Johansson straight up said no. That’s probably the boldest of his statements. You never hear a player criticize the league for their suspension decisions, but when a player loses dozens of games for a dirty hit, there’s very little to lose.
Johansson has been forced to watch as the Devils try like Hell to hold onto their playoff position without him. Scoring at times was hard to come by without him. After that loss, the Devils sat at 24-15-8. Say Johansson was in this lineup, is it too much to say they would have one more win?
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Imagine the Devils with a three point lead on the Florida Panthers right now. Then, they would control their own destiny.
Looking even further, the Devils may not have traded for Patrick Maroon or Michael Grabner at the trade deadline. Honestly, I think the deals may still have happened, but maybe GM Ray Shero feels one of them is unnecessary with Johansson in the lineup.
This concussion was the second of the season for the first-year Devil. That’s a scary thought with everything we know about concussions in 2018. A player who purposely hit a player in the head with an elbow should get called out. The play was over. There was nothing to come of the move by Marchand. It was only to be a goon. I commend Marcus Johansson for making his comments public so we continue to talk about the dirty play that ruined his season.