Official verdict: NHL ruling on Brad Marchand's hit on Mike Matheson
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Jonathan Ouimet
Dec 31, 2025 (10:38)
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Photo credit: Jeff Romance-Imagn Images
Brad Marchand and Mike Matheson left the Montreal Canadiens with a discipline debate that won't die.
Tuesday night turned messy when Marchand caught Matheson high, and the whole sequence instantly set off alarms around head contact. The talk today is not about the score first, it was about the league's next move.
Elliotte Friedman reported there would be no hearing for Marchand on the play involving Matheson, which usually means no supplemental discipline is coming. As of Wednesday, the NHL's Player Safety news feed also had no new Marchand item posted.
No hearing for Brad Marchand regarding OT roughing penalty on Mike Matheson
I admit I'm surprised, I thought there would be for the contact to the head.
My suspicions on why it won't be a suspension:
- NHL felt it was a penalty on the ice, that's it
- Marchand elbow low and tucked; Matheson low to ice
said Elliot Friedman
My suspicions on why it won't be a suspension:
- NHL felt it was a penalty on the ice, that's it
- Marchand elbow low and tucked; Matheson low to ice
said Elliot Friedman
The wild part is this all happened in a game the Montreal Canadiens actually stole late, winning 3-2 in overtime against the Florida Panthers. Nick Suzuki scored twice, including the winner after Marchand took a roughing penalty on Matheson in overtime.
If you're a Canadiens fan, that's the whiplash, you celebrate the comeback, then you're right back to rulebook arguments. The league wants consistency on head contact, but nights like Tuesday make that feel optional.
Brad Marchand and Mike Matheson ignite discipline debate
As a Habs watcher, this is the kind of clip that makes people roll their eyes before the replay even ends. It's not the outrage that gets tiring, it's the feeling the standard changes depending on the nameplate.
The timing is also awkward because Marchand is front-and-center in the league's Winter Classic push. The Panthers host the New York Rangers on Friday in Miami, and NHL.com has leaned into Marchand as a marquee face for the event.
Matheson isn't some extra in the story, he's one of Montreal's load-bearers. He signed a five-year, $30 million extension that carries a $6 million cap hit, and he's been playing about 24:50 a night with 14 points in 22 games.
Tactically, that's your main exit valve and a big chunk of your transition game, especially when the forecheck is heavy. When he's under pressure, you either trust your first pass, or you spend the shift defending.
Montreal got two points Tuesday, but this story is about what the league chooses to ignore. Now you circle Friday, not for the spectacle, but to see if the next big moment comes with a real consequence.