Last evening, the bigwigs over at the NHL’s Department of Player Safety dropped the hammer, declaring via the tried-and-true modern town crier, Twitter, that the Arizona Coyotes’ very own Liam O’Brien is out a sweet $2,018.23 for getting a tad too rough with Vancouver Canucks’ Sam Lafferty on January 18th. “Chump change,” you say? No sir, that’s the heftiest slap on the wrist the rules allow—and that dough is off to help the less fortunate players in distress, the kind that’ve forgotten what a hockey stick looks like.
Roll the tapes back to the wee moments of the first period, clock frozen at 5:26, and there’s O’Brien, leaping off the bench like a man possessed, making a beeline for Lafferty. Must’ve taken seriously offence to an earlier hit from our dear Canuck, because O’Brien was hell-bent on doling out frontier justice. Gloves hit the ice. Fists flew. Lafferty? He just took it; didn’t even swing back. Fortunately, our boys in stripes were quick to wrangle O’Brien before all his pent-up affection could be expressed, and into the sin bin he went.
But, oh, it didn’t end there. There’s O’Brien again, throwing down with defenseman Nikita Zadorov, scoring yet another five minutes of introvert time to contemplate his choices (Spoiler alert: He chose punches). Mr. Penalties himself, O’Brien now proudly sits atop his throne as King of the Sin Bin with a grand total of 105 penalty minutes in 43 games, nearly lapping his own belligerent best from last season.
A stroll down memory lane tells us the twenty-nine-year-old, a veteran of seven spellbinding NHL seasons, has donned the jerseys of the Coyotes, Washington Capitals, and Colorado Avalanche. Last season’s figures were nothing to scoff at: 56 games, three goals, and eight assists—career highs, folks! Even more shockingly, this is O’Brien’s inaugural dance with the Department of Player Safety. Guess there’s a first time for everything, right? Bet he’s hoping there’s not a second.