Kings Winger Brendan Lemieux Suspended For Biting Opponent
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - The NHL has suspended Los Angeles Kings left winger Brendan Lemieux following an incident in which Lemieux bit his opponent during a fight on the ice.
Lemieux allegedly bit Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators during their game on Saturday, November 27, in which the Kings won 4-2.
He was promptly ejected after the scuffle, at least following his five minute period in the penalty box. Tkachuk showed officials the bite marks on his hand, which led to Lemieux's ejection.
Lemieux was suspended for five games on Tuesday. He was also fined $38,750.
The league issued a video statement, where they addressed the incident:
"This is not a hockey play. This is a player delivering a forceful, intentional and potentially dangerous bite to the bare hand of another player with sufficient force to puncture the skin. Such actions will not be tolerated."
Tkachuk unleashed a ferocious rant in a postgame press conference, defaming Lemieux's character in the process:
"It was the most gutless thing somebody could ever do. This guy, you can ask anyone of his teammates, nobody ever wants to play with him. This guy is a bad guy and a bad teammate, he focuses on himself all the time. The guy's just a joke. He shouldn't be in the league. This guy's gutless. No other team wants him, he's going to keep begging to be in the NHL, but no other team is going to want him, he's an absolute joke. I can't even wrap my head around it. People don't even do this. He's just a bad guy. It's outrageous. Kids don't even do that anymore. Babies do that. I don't even know what he was thinking, he's just a complete brick head. He's got nothing up there. Bad guy, bad player, but what a joke he is."
Lemieux has a short history of league suspensions. In 2018, he was suspended for two games for an illegal check to the head of an opponent, and in 2020 he was suspended for interference. Both of this instances occurred while Lemieux was a member of the Winnipeg Jets and New York Rangers, respectively.
It doesn't stop there.
Lemieux's father, Claude Lemieux, is widely considered as one of the dirtiest and most hated players during his playing time, ranking No. 2 overall on the "The Top 10 Most Hated NHL Players of All Time," a list curated by TSN, a Canadian sports broadcast.
Tkachuks' father, Keith Tkachuk, is also a former NHL player. Tkachuk, nowhere nearly as hated as the senior Lemieux, was still noted for his hard-nosed playing style.
The two fathers even faced off against each other in an on ice brawl in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.