Leafs make shocking announcement about Morgan Rielly's suspension
Yesterday, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced that Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly received a five-game suspension for cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig at the end of the game on Saturday night. Rielly began serving his suspension last night as the Leafs defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-1, courtesy of a Bobby McMann hat trick.
Although suspended, Rielly still joined the Leafs at practice today, and following practice, the Leafs announced that Rielly is going to appeal his suspension. Given that his suspension was five games, Rielly's appeal will be heard directly by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and not an independent arbitrator.
Given that these appeals take far longer than they should, Rielly will likely end up missing most or all of his five games anyway, but if the suspension is shortened, Rielly would be able to collect the salary he was owed for the games he missed.
The last time the Leafs appealed a suspension was in 2021 when they appealed Jason Spezza's six game suspension for hitting Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk in the head. His suspension was reduced to four games with Bettman citing a clean track record for Spezza over his previous 19 seasons.
The Leafs are hoping that Rielly's pristine record over his previous 11 years, the fact that he has amassed just 225 penalty minutes over his career, and up until two weeks ago, had gone the entire season without a penalty will help in their case.
Additionally, you can bet that the Leafs are putting together a montage of similar incidents where the offending player received less punishment than Rielly. With the Leafs playing essentially every other day until next Saturday, it is highly unlikely that the Leafs and Rielly will get a verdict from Bettman prior to his five games being served, but we can hope.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 14 | 1123 ANSWERS Leafs make shocking announcement about Morgan Rielly's suspension How many games do you think Rielly should have gotten? | ||
| Just a fine | 226 | 20.1 % |
| 1-2 | 732 | 65.2 % |
| 3-4 | 165 | 14.7 % |
| 5 was the right call | 0 | 0 % |
| List of polls | ||
