OPINION: There was Absolutely Nothing Wrong with Jacob Trouba's Hit

As Blue Line Station expected, Jacob Trouba will not face supplemental discipline for his monsterous but clean third-period hit against Justin Barron in the New York Rangers’7-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Trouba laid Barron out at 7:11 with a hard check in which he kept his arms in and exploded through the Canadiens defenseman along the boards in the neutral zone. Barron appeared to put himself in a vulnerable position before the hit — part of the criteria for a penalty or further discipline being handed out. He dropped to the ice after the hit and was helped to the locker room and didn’t return.

Barron's teammate and Canadien defenseman Mike Matheson skated over for a brief physical altercation with Trouba, earning an instigator penalty on top of the five minutes for fighting both players received.

As previously mentioned, Trouba was not penalized for the hit, but the Canadiens and many of their fans on social media believed he should be disciplined by the league.

In fact, the Canadiens only added further fuel to fans' outrage in the post game press conference.

“When I saw the replay I found the principal point of contact was the head,” Canadiens coach and ex-Ranger Martin St. Louis said.

Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher also chimed in, saying the right thing for the NHL to do is to give Trouba more than a warning.

"They had a clean hit on the ice, we have a hit to the head from a player that's had multiple, multiple warnings," Gallagher said. "So, whether the league decides to do the right thing, whether he gets another pass, that's up to them."

Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette defended his player.

“I think it was a single hit inside the game,” Laviolette said. “Trouba is a hard-nosed defenseman. I looked at the hit a bunch of times and I thought it was a good hit. I thought he took him right through the body. Nobody likes to see anybody get hurt. Hopefully it’s not anything that’s long term.”

And here's the thing, the hit was clean; Trouba kept his elbow tucked in. As the player with the puck in Barron's position, you have to expect a hit there as a professional in the league. And furthermore, it shouldn't be viewed as anything more than typical in a sport as aggressive as hockey.

According to ESPN, upon review by the NHL, it was determined that Trouba's hit was a legal full body check with Barron's chest as the main point of contact. If there was contact with Barron's head, that contact was covered under Rule 48.1, which considers "whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent's body and the head was not 'picked' as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward."

At the age of 30, Trouba has been suspended twice in his NHL career and fined four times -- most recently in the 2024 Eastern Conference finals for elbowing Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues.

Clearly, Trouba has been warned and knows there are plenty of eyes on him.

There's no reason to punish a clean but mean hit. And for those who are questioning the ruling, Blue Line Station says, "welcome to hockey."