Snapshots: Marchand, ISS, Avalanche

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand will not face any supplemental discipline for his trip of Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Marchand skated behind Stralman and turned sharply, taking Stralman’s left leg out from under him (Streamable link to incident). Stralman told Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times that he “can’t expect anybody to see [the play]” because of where it happened on the ice. When asked about the lack of a penalty on the play, Stralman said “I can’t say if he did anything or not, but I’m not the puck holder. I’m out in the neutral zone, and I get hit from behind. That’s all I got to say.”

The play was similar to another play involving Marchand last week. Marchand made a similar movement behind Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall (Streamable link). The Bruins pest was fined $10K for the incident. Friedman reported that there will be no supplemental discipline because the play wasn’t seen as intentional.

The All-Star Marchand has 49 points in 52 games this season. The Bruins have won three in a row and are now three points up on the Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division.

• The International Scouting Service has released its Top 31 draft rankings for February. Brandon Wheat Kings center Nolan Patrick remains atop the list, followed by right-handed Swedish defenseman Timothy Liljegren, dynamic Swiss forward Nico Hischier, OHL sniper Owen Tippett, and big center Gabe Vilardi in the top five. Hischier had three points in the recent CHL Top Prospects Game, while Patrick and Tippett had two, and Vilardi one.
• Speaking of top draft picks, the Colorado Avalanche are in for a tough rebuild, writes Cat Silverman of FanRag. While pro sports is usually divided into top teams with few prospects and poor teams with prospects aplenty, the Avalanche fall into an unfortunate middle ground: they’re a poor team with few prospects. The Avalanche are by far the worst team in the NHL (10 points below the 29th place Coyotes and on pace for the worst NHL season since the expansion Atlanta Thrashers) and they’re not even intentionally tanking. Silverman writes that Colorado fans need to accept that the team is going to be bad for the next little while as they trade away players like Matt Duchene and re-stock their prospect pipeline. It’s going to be a slow process because “unlike the other rebuilding teams, the Avalanche haven’t been grabbing pieces for the future. They’ve been losing, but trying to win now, and it’s left them at the bottom of the standings with little in the way of future help.”