Antoine Roussel fined by NHL for sucker punching Justin Braun
Sucker punches have always inhabited a gray area for the NHL’s player safety police.
We’ve had instances like Ben Eager getting four games for punching Colby Armstrong back in 2011 (on Colin Campbell’s watch) and Jordan Nolan getting a game back in March for suckering Jesse Joensuu. But many times, sucker punches simply result in fines, as was the case with Dallas Stars pest Antoine Roussel on Monday.
From the NHL:
Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel has been fined $5,376.34, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for punching an unsuspecting opponent, San Jose Sharks defenseman Justin Braun, during NHL Game No. 211 in Dallas on Saturday, November 8, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.
The incident occurred at 18:51 of the third period. Roussel was assessed a misconduct penalty. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Like we said, there’s not exactly a fast and loose standard for sucker punches. Go back and look at that Nolan/Joensuu situation: Restrained player gets punched in the face at an unsuspecting moment. Did Roussel simply get fined because Braun engaged him? Was it due to his fairly clean record?
In any event, kudos to the NHL for not punishing Roussel for his collision with Alex Stalock, which we almost expected in a post Lucic/Miller world…
