By name, he is Bryan Marchment

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, the San Jose Sharks' 10-year veteran defenseman. By reputation, he is Satan on skates.

Marchment has been known to use his stick like a surgeon uses his scalpel. He has been suspended six times in his career for his questionable tactics, the latest in March when he sat for three games for spearing Anaheim's Paul Kariya.

"You just have to be aware when he's one the ice," Blues defenseman Jeff Finley told SportsLine.com Friday between the first and second games of the teams' first-round NHL playoff series.

"You have to know. You can never let up for a minute. We've seen him hit guys when they don't even have the puck, nobody near them."

Did we say scalpel? At least real patients have an advantage. They are under anesthetic. Marchment is a threat to bring the pain on every shift.

Marchment is as close to Darth Vader as there is in the NHL. Players respect tough guys, but they despise Marchment. Three years ago, he might have single-handedly wrecked the Dallas Stars' playoff chances by running Joe Nieuwendyk into the boards. Nieuwendyk's knee injury knocked him out for the playoffs and added another footnote to Marchment's dubious legend.

Marchment already hears the clamor coming out of the Blues locker room and is reveling in it.

"If they're thinking about me already, I've done more than half of my job," he said.

Marchment's elbow to the head of St. Louis right wing Lubos Bartecko brought howls of protest from the Blues Wednesday during and after Game 1. Bartecko was knocked cold and had to be revived with smelling salts.

It was first feared that Bartecko had a broken nose, but he later popped up without lasting effects. This time.

"I didn't see the hit (on tape)," Marchment said. "It was part of the game."

A part of the game that the Blues hope earns Marchment, 30, another suspension. General manager Larry Pleau would not confirm whether he asked the NHL to review the play, saying only, "We have our procedures."

If Marchment goes unpunished, then he remains a threat to end a career at any time. The Sharks as a whole have made a concerted effort to physically challenge the Blues. St. Louis, which leads 1-0, might win this series as expected, but the fear is that one of its star players could become a playoff casualty.

Leading scorer Pavol Demitra is expected to miss the rest of the series with a concussion suffered last month against Tampa Bay. All-Star defenseman Chris Pronger had a tooth knocked out by a check in Game 1 and was continually roughed up by San Jose's Dave Lowry on Wednesday.

The specter of Marchment looms over it all. When asked Friday whether St. Louis was the best team in the league, he replied with a stern, "No. I think they're a very good team that believes in its system."

"There is a line you want to make sure you don't cross," Blues coach Joel Quenneville said. "There's been some talk this year whether players don't have enough respect (for each other). When they get close to that edge, you just hope that they use good judgment."

Marchment's reputation, though, is of a guy who goes for the knees first and asks questions later. Pierre Turgeon, the Blues second-leading scorer, was asked to reflect on his 13 years in the league. Has there been anyone else like Marchment?

"I look around," Turgeon said, "no names come to mind right now."

That Marchment keeps getting work isn't a tribute to his offensive abilities (27 goals in 586 career games). San Jose is his sixth team. This season, he played only 49 games mostly because of injuries.

His face is a testament to his role. Marchment's nose zigzags across his face, an obvious indication it has been broken many times.

"He had more of a reputation for coming across and getting a guy's knees," said Blues winger Kelly Chase. "He's a competitor. The guys that play with him always get along with him. He's the type of guy you want on your side, but sometimes he steps over the line and injures guys."

Strangely, Marchment has a grudging ally in Chase. Their careers go back almost 10 years together. Marchment was a young defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks and Chase was a young winger with an attitude in St. Louis.

"That was war every night," Chase said with relish. "We fought three or four times."

Chase admires -- if that's the right word -- Marchment because there is no pretension. You know what you're getting, even if it hurts like hell.

"I think he wants to punish guys," Chase said. "I don't think he wants to intentionally hurt guys. But he steps over the line and does some things that border on dirty. You know what you're getting out of him. You know he's not going to come out one night and try to be a finesse player. When you come across the middle, you expect him to be there.

"There's too much whining in the league now. Just go out and play, shut up and quit whining. I don't agree with the borderline hurting of people. But every time somebody gets hit these days, they lay there and whine."

Because the league is scrutinizing rough play, Chase suggested his team might be too tough. A week ago, center Mike Eastwood got his nose broken against Chicago. He didn't go down clutching his face, so there was no call.

Bryan Marchment doesn't score much, but is very dangerous with the stick.(Allsport)

"So instead, he fights through it and doesn't dive because he's old school," Chase said. "Half the guys in the league get hit like that and they lay down and whine about it. But that's the way we're going with the game."

That's essentially Marchment's take

"I think it's a great statement (by Chase)," he said. "It's a guy who has a role himself. He's done it well his whole career. As long as it's in the rules, I don't see anything wrong with it.

"Anybody who plays the way I do is going to be characterized unfairly. The reason why I'm so effective is how I play. It's why I'm in the league."

That's the problem for a lot of his critics, that Marchment is still in the league. Oh, the man has regrets about his on-ice conduct. It's just hard to single out one incident. That would be admitting weakness.

"I regret not going home about two summers ago," Marchment said flippantly. "I didn't call my wife (after) curfew."

It looks like Marchment intends to go down swinging, even if it is with his stick.