Brad Marchand is officially a serial licker and the NHL seemingly has no clue what to do about it. Marchand once again made headlines for licking the opposing team, this time by violating Ryan Callahan on Friday.

In case you missed it, here’s video of the most recent incident:

The NHL reportedly spoke to the Boston Bruins about the licks after a previous instance, but now they’re being a bit more public with their response to Marchand’s actions. The league released the statement below Saturday:

That’s it?

Marchand has now had three unique licking incidents and yet the NHL still hasn’t handed out any formal punishment. How is licking a player any different than spitting in their face? Why aren’t the officials giving Marchand a game misconduct (a punishment that can be handed out for spitting) or some sort of discipline under the unsportsmanlike conduct umbrella? Why have they allowed this story to spiral out of control?

Instead, the NHL has given what they must think is a very stern warning and it only took the story becoming a major embarrassment before they even addressed it publicly. Instead of the sporting world as a whole talking about the Vegas Golden Knights or some other fun story from the playoffs thus far, we’re all talking about Marchand’s fetish.

The 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs may always be remembered for licking, which is an embarrassment both for Marchand and the NHL as a whole.

About David Rogers

Editor for The Comeback and Contributing Editor for Awful Announcing. Lover of hockey, soccer and all things pop culture.