On Monday in Boston, Avalanche center Nazem Kadri probably didn’t mind that star Bruins winger Brad Marchand was completing a six-game NHL-imposed suspension when the teams played in a Presidents Day matinee.
Without Marchand, the Avs had a better chance to win.
But Kadri told The Post that he took issue with the length of Marchand’s suspension for roughing and high-sticking Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry on Feb. 8 because the punishment exceeded the crime. And Kadri is well-familiar with how that feels, after serving what he believes was an excessive eight-game suspension in last year’s playoffs — a stretch that ended with the Avalanche going 0-4 and being eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.
“It’s tough to make that judgment call if you’re the one in charge of the suspensions and everything, but I guess players just want to see some sort of consistency,” Kadri said from Detroit, before the Avs’ 5-2 victory at Little Ceasars Arena. “You want to see everyone treated the same way and things not get taken out of proportion. So I feel like that’s how the league sends their messages or whatever the case may be. A couple guys are those focal points and everything else is just kind of a slap on the wrist.”
Kadri served his sixth NHL suspension in the 2021 playoffs, and first in two seasons with the Avs, for a high check on St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk. The NHL Department of Player Safety ruled the head was the principal point of contract. Kadri appealed the ruling, saying he was trying to deliver a legal check to an opponent in a scoring area but accidentally caught Faulk’s head. He lost the appeal. Marchand also appealed this month and lost.
“It’s on him. He’s got to know better than that,” Kadri said of what Marchand did to Jarry. “But at the end of the day, it’s not something he could really seriously injure him with. Was it a lapse in judgment? Probably, for sure. But six games, it’s a lot of games. So I feel like there’s obviously guys that are targeted. That’s no surprise and I feel like they try to make examples of those specific people.”
Marchand is coming off his eighth NHL suspension, and second this season. He and Kadri are both repeat offenders in the eyes of the DoPS and both believe they are punished excessively for their pasts.
Fair or not.
“These plays were not going to injure Jarry,” Marchand told Boston reporters. “No potential injury on that play. He was very well protected. The fact that itap six games is based on history, not on the play.”
A DoPS repeat offender is defined as a player with a suspension within the last 18 months. Kadri got eight games last summer despite his previous suspension more than two years earlier.
“That whole refreshed history thing is pretty far from the truth,” Kadri told The Post. “I don’t know exactly what Marchy said (but) I’d have to agree with him — it was a little excessive for what he did.”
In an email to The Post last summer, the NHL clarified the 18-month repeat-offender clock.
“The 18-month rule is primarily in place to determine fine and forfeited salary maximums and rates,” the league said. “It is not at all meant to periodically erase any player’s supplemental discipline history.”
Moving forward, Kadri — the Avs’ leading scorer and first-time All-Star who is having his best-career season — knows he has to be particularly careful to avoid another lengthy suspension, even if it’s of the Marchand/Jarry variety.
“You just got to be aware out there,” he said.
Footnote. The Avs, coming off a 3-1 road trip, had Thursday off. They will have a morning skate at Ball Arena ahead of Friday’s game against the visiting Winnipeg Jets.
