Toronto Maple Leafs star defenseman Morgan Rielly received a five-game suspension on Wednesday for a cross-check he delivered to Ottawa Senators forward Rielly Greig. The play, marred by controversy, occurred at the end of the “Battle of Ontario” on February 10. As time was winding down, with the Senators up by a goal, the Toronto Maple Leafs pulled their goalie to allow an extra skater on the ice to tie up the game. This strategy is usually ineffective, as the leading team typically only has to fend off a man’s disadvantage for a few minutes before winning the game. This exactly happened during the game, as Greig was on a breakaway with an empty net. [1]
Typically, when this happens, the player scores the goal to put the game away; however, in this case, Greig unnecessarily wound up a slap shot from around 10 feet away to score the empty net goal and give the Senators a two-goal lead. The slap shot on its own would have sparked controversy from the hockey media following the game. However, Rielly, who was trailing Greig on the play, decided to take matters into his own hands and leveled Greig with a cross-check right to his head.
As expected, the hockey media exploded, as they normally do with anything involving the Toronto Maple Leafs. As mentioned above, this apparently insignificant play (at least regarding the game’s outcome) created widespread controversy, so much so that a headline from the incident reads: “Rielly Greig’s Empty-Net Clapper Has Turned Into A Provincial Scandal.”[2] This same article references some unwritten, unspoken “code” that some supporters of the hit are using to defend Rielly.[3]
Immediately, the focus of the whole incident turned to the NHL and how harsh the penalty for this hit should be. Many old-school hockey guys defended Rielly for defending the honor of the Maple Leafs, while others argued that this vicious hit deserved severe consequences. Many began to speculate that the latter was more likely to be the result because Rielly accepted an in-person hearing with NHL Player Safety. This body determines the disciplinary determinations for player misconduct.[4] When a player selects an in-person hearing, the expected punishment is anticipated to be greater than three games. The key, however, is that only the commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, may give out suspensions of more than five games.[5] Thus, before the hearing, many hockey pundits could sense the upcoming suspension, and they were exactly right, as the NHL suspended Morgan Rielly for five games.
As with every suspension involving player safety, Rielly filed an appeal, which Bettman is scheduled to hear.[6] The appeal hearing is scheduled for February 16, 2024, so the story is still developing; however, Bettman is expected to affirm the suspension, and the Leafs will be without their top defenseman for the next five games.
[1] https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/just-last-week-at-the-all-star-game-maple-leafs-auston-matthews-shares-thoughts-ridly-greig-empty-net-slapshot-goal-against-senators
[2] https://defector.com/ridly-greigs-empty-net-clapper-has-turned-into-a-provincial-scandal
[3] Id.
[4] https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39505891/nhl-offers-maple-leafs-morgan-rielly-person-hearing
[5] https://apnews.com/article/morgan-rielly-ridly-greig-987ab70c1a62a8748b66e3b7b643ca34#:~:text=An%20in%2Dperson%20hearing%2C%20which,is%20to%20Commissioner%20Gary%20Bettman.
[6] Id.
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