This Just In: Brad Marchand Is Still a Punk

It's fair to say that everyone deserves a second chance.

It's possible that transgressive individuals can morph into solid citizens doing beneficial things.

Hell, that was the premise of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange:

When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.

The Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand has had more than enough second chances.

Dude doesn't need a glass or two of moloko-plus to fit a bit of the old ultra-violence into his day.

Just ask Tampa Bay's James Dotchin. This is what happened to him last night in Beantown:

 

Wonders?

That was nothing less than assault with a nardly weapon.

What's more, that clip didn't get Marchand's coup de grace after his initial attack. As you're absorbing the incident's analysis, watch him circle around a push his stick blade into Dotchin's face, just for good measure:

 

Marchand's a major factor in the Bruins' playoff push this season.

Dude's leading the team in both scoring and penalty minutes:

With a season like this, what's his issue?

Dotchin did give him a cross-check, but that's the sorta thing that happens all the time in this game.

Still, does he think he's gotta overreact to every challenge?

Marchand's about to get dragged into NHL court and will probably get suspended for a few games.

But there's no indication he's about to change his ways.

Burgess was correct in his novel that society can't program people to change their ways.

Marchand's unrepentant serial behavior, then, is enough to make one miss enforcers on team rosters. They had ways of making sure sticks stayed down.

Then again, who knows what the future will bring?