Kevin Bieksa Boldly Confronts Controversial NHL Player, Calling Him a 'Rat' During Saturday Night's Game

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James Connelly
January 7, 2024 (10:13)

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Kevin Bieksa had a strong message for one of the dirtiest players in the NHL, Nick Cousins, on Hockey Night in Canada after Cousins got away with another dirty play.

Former NHLer Kevin Bieksa Publicly Calls Out Dirty Florida Panthers Forward Nick Cousins

Last night on Hockey Night in Canada, former NHLer Kevin Bieksa went off on Florida Panthers forward Nick Cousins for his repeated cheap plays.

"What people don't wanna watch and see is kneeing, hitting a guys head into the boards, ramming a guy from behind and that is a common theme for [Nick Cousins]. I have never done this before but I have to do it, because this is a trend with this player. There's no place in the game for this and what is the common theme in all of these? Him at the bottom of the pile in a turtle position. This has been a common theme with this player... somebody in that organization or somebody that he respects has to sit down and say 'Enough of this' or the NHL has to come down and hammer this guy. Somebody has to hammer this guy from the department of justice and put an end to these crappy hits because I hate them and that's a rat to me. I'm sorry it is."

Cousins certainly has one of the worst reputations in all of the NHL. The play that sparked this message from Bieksa was this hit on Coyotes defenseman Juuso Valimaki. Valimaki's teammate, Jason Zucker, went and got retribution by boarding Cousins and knocking him out.

The most notable thing about this sequence is that Zucker would be suspended for three games while Cousins got nothing; not even a fine.

How To Fix Cousins

Bieksa offered two simple solutions to Cousins' antics. The first was to have somebody that Cousins respects, like a veteran teammate, coach, or even the Panthers GM, meet with him and try to talk some sense into him.

The other solution is to give Cousins a lengthy suspension like what happened to Raffi Torres after he continuously headhunted players. While Cousins is not head hunting per se, he is making dangerous and dirty plays that could easily injure other players.

Only time will tell which happens as till then, Cousins will continue to make dirty plays and put others at risk.

As seen on Hockey Feed - Bieksa calls out «rat» NHLer on Saturday night.