"That's a rat": Kevin Bieksa rips into Panthers forward Nick Cousins
Kevin Bieksa did not mince words on how he felt about Florida Panthers forward Nick Cousins on Saturday night.
The former Vancouver Canucks defenceman turned analyst dug in while on the Hockey Night in Canada panel as he aired his grievances with how Cousins has been playing of late, specifically the high hits that the 30-year-old has been handing out to opponents.
Bieksa was not happy with what he has been seeing from the Belleville, Ontario, native.
“This is a trend with [Cousins] and he has done this numerous amount of times,” said Bieksa. “Ramming a guy’s head into the boards… there is no place in the game for this.”
"There's no place in the game for this." @kbieksa3 discusses Nick Cousins play. pic.twitter.com/zyXef0SEvc
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 7, 2024
Cousins has been a lightning rod for criticism this season. He has been the perpetrator of two very scary hits this season, driving Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman head first into the endboards in early December and most recently hitting Arizona Coyotes defenceman Jusso Valimaki in the head while he was already on the ice.
Jason Zucker has been suspended for three games for boarding Florida’s Nick Cousins, per @NHLPlayerSafety pic.twitter.com/3IIEC5LHoT
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 4, 2024
Gudbranson was hit from behind, went down, then popped up and tried to throw 'em 🤯 pic.twitter.com/UU8QN07eWy
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 10, 2023
In both instances, Cousins avoided any suspensions with Gudbranson and Coyotes forward Jason Zucker instead getting dinged by player safety for retaliatory plays against the Panthers forward.
“What’s the common theme in all these? [Cousins] at the bottom of the pile in a turtle position. Not like Brendan Smith standing up and taking your medicine; this has been a common theme for this player.
“Somebody in that organization or somebody that he respects has to sit down and say ‘enough of this’… or the NHL has to come down and hammer [Cousins with a long suspension].”
Bieksa went on to mention how the league dealt with former Canucks tough guy Raffi Torres, who was handed both 25-game and 41-game suspensions for hits to the head.
“Somebody has to hammer this guy from the [department of player safety] and put an end to these crappy hits because I hate them,” said Bieksa. “That’s a rat to me, I’m sorry it is.”
Though Cousins was not suspended for his hit on Valimaki, he is not playing at the moment. He suffered an injury after Zucker retaliated and has been placed on the Panthers’ IR.
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