The New York Rangers’ Jacob Trouba is at the centre of another controversial hit that he laid on Tuesday night — this time on Montreal Canadiens’ defenceman Justin Barron. While some suggested the hit was reasonably clean and within the definition of an acceptable check by NHL standards, others have used Trouba’s history and forceful hits as provocation to question the legitimacy of how clean this most recent hit is.
During the game between the Rangers and Canadiens on Oct. 22, Barron was coming down the left side of the ice carrying the puck with speed. As he entered the Rangers’ zone, it looked as though Barron was attempting to centre the puck right at the Rangers’ blue line when Trouba came flying in hitting Barron in the chest and driving upwards with force.
Jacob Trouba catches Justin Barron with a hit and Mike Matheson drops the gloves with him right after. pic.twitter.com/ZEA7LYrQqo
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 23, 2024
At the time, the Rangers were leading 5-2 midway through the third period, and the hit led to a physical altercation between Trouba and Mike Matheson who came in to defend his fallen comrade.
Barron laid at the Rangers blue line unable to get up right away and was helped off by the Canadiens training staff, before being declared out for the remainder of the night and heading straight into the team’s dressing room.
Matheson was assessed a two-minute instigator penalty, a 10-minute misconduct, plus the five-minute major for the fight and the Canadiens were forced to play without both Matheson and Barron for the remainder of the game.
As for an update on Barron, there was no immediate update following the game. However, head coach, Martin St. Louis, did state that he felt the principle point of contact was, in fact, Barron’s head and that there wasn’t any further update on his status at that time.
Barron has 13 goals and 31 points in 101 games played for the Canadiens over parts of five seasons. He was the 25th overall pick by the Colorado Avalanche back in 2020.