San Jose Sharks coach Bob Boughner was upset that no one came to Radim Simek’s defense after he was injured by a questionable play from Vegas Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault.
Simek was placed on injured reserve over the weekend with an upper-body injury after two run-ins with Marchessault at SAP Center on Saturday.
Simek appeared to be a bit woozy after he was first hit by Marchessault against the end boards early in the second period. Shortly after, with the puck in the corner to the left of goalie Martin Jones, Simek — still feeling the effects of the first hit — was cross-checked by Marchessault in the rib area. Simek was able to get to the Sharks’ bench but immediately went to the locker room and did not return.
No penalty was called on the play and Marchessault did not face any sort of retribution from the Sharks. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety also did not issue any supplemental discipline.
Before that sequence, Simek had upended Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith with a check in the Sharks’ corner as the two were racing to retrieve the puck.
Boughner didn’t like Marchessault’s hit when he was asked about it after Saturday’s game, a 3-1 Sharks loss, but added Monday that he wanted to see more of a retort from his team.
“The initial hit you can argue is a little bit high, but I think it’s the nature of the hit, I think it was retaliatory,” Boughner said of the sequence Monday. “I thought that (Simek) was physical on Smith on the first shoulder-to-shoulder puck battle. It looked like Marchessault came in, keying on Simmer and the hit.
“Again, my issue is more the second time around when Simmer was already stung that he came in and added insult to injury, and that’s on us. I mean, it looked to me like someone taking a shot at one of our players and I didn’t like our response. That’s something we are addressing.”
Last month, Boughner was also upset that no Sharks player came to Mario Ferraro’s defense after he and Minnesota Wild forward Jordan Greenway got into a wrestling match in a Jan. 22 game.
“We need to be a tight team, both on and off the ice and (the Simek/Marchessault incident is) an example of being able to get in there, first home game, establishing some identity,” Boughner said. “I understand the game is tight at that point, but you need a response (then) or somewhere else in the game. You can’t let other teams take liberties and that’s something that we will be addressing.”
Boughner said there’s a small chance Simek could be back for the Sharks’ Feb. 20 road game with the St. Louis Blues. If not, the Sharks’ next game is Feb. 25 against Marchessault and the Golden Knights at SAP Center.
Simek had recently seen an uptick in his ice time as he had been playing with Erik Karlsson, who was also injured Saturday and will not play Monday with a lower-body ailment. Fredrik Claesson, signed as a free agent last month, and Nicolas Meloche will play in Simek and Karlsson’s place Monday.
“He was playing more minutes and he was adding that physicality that we need on that back end,” Boughner said of Simek. “It’s a loss for us. We’re going to have Claesson and that’s the reason we signed him, is to have some depth and he’s going to get his opportunity.
“We have to play good team defense. We’re at home and we can get our changes that we need and our matchups. But, definitely, you take (Simek) out and you take (Karlsson) out, two regulars that soak up a lot of ice time, it’s a hole in your lineup.”
Claesson and Meloche will make up the Sharks’ third defense pair Monday. Meloche has not played an NHL game since the Sharks’ first game of the season against the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 14. Claesson has 155 games of NHL experience but Monday will represent his first game back in any league since March 7, 2020.
Claesson, a teammate of Karlsson’s with the Senators from 2015 to 2018, said he was practicing by himself in Ottawa to try and get himself into game shape again.
Claesson was signed by the Sharks last month around the time there was some concerns about Simek’s surgically repaired knee, which he was having difficulty with during training camp. After he was cleared to come to the U.S., Claesson spent about a week quarantining in Arizona before he was called up by the Sharks.
“It was a long process for sure,” Claesson said. “There were some delays there and especially the visa stuff to get everything as quick as possible. So it was a little frustrating, but I’m here now and I’m back.”