NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly‘s five-game suspension on Tuesday for cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig.
Rielly will not be eligible to play again until Toronto’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.
Rielly had requested an appeal of his ban by Bettman following the initial decision coming down on Feb. 13. The play in question happened during Toronto’s game at Ottawa on Feb. 10, in the closing seconds of which Rielly cross-checked Greig to the face area in response to Greig firing a close-range slap shot into the Leafs’ empty net and securing a 5-3 win for the Senators. Rielly was immediately assessed a match penalty and game misconduct with five seconds remaining in the third period.
The Leafs argued on Rielly’s behalf to Bettman that the five-game suspension should be reduced because Rielly had no history of supplementary discipline, Greig was not injured on the play and the length of this ban wasn’t commensurate to others like it around the league.
While Bettman acknowledged in his 10-page assessment for upholding the suspension that Rielly did not “aim” at Greig’s head on the cross-check, Bettman saw indication that Rielly “add[ed] force to the blow” and was attempting to gather “retribution” for Toronto with a loss all but assured.
“Although much of the testimony offered by Mssrs Rielly, [Leafs general manager Brad] Treliving and [Leafs president Brendan] Shanahan at the [appeal] hearing concerned whether Mr. Greig’s slap shot was provocative, that discussion is utterly irrelevant,” Bettman wrote. “Mr. Rielly’s actions were not undertaken in self-defense. They were not accidental, and they were not reflexive. They were not simply careless or merely reckless. With plenty of time to think about what he was going to do next, Mr. Rielly approached Mr. Greig from the side then used his stick as a weapon to deliver the kind of blow the League has repeatedly made clear will not be tolerated.”
Bettman went on to note that Rielly’s lack of past disciplinary issues and Greig’s uninjured status were taken into account when the original five-game suspension was levied. If either factor hadn’t been the case, “Mr. Rielly’s suspension almost certainly would have been considerably longer.”
In terms of Rielly’s argument toward shorter suspensions assessed for similar incidents, Bettman found the comparables presented (including bans to Alex Chiasson, Jeff Skinner, Blake Lizotte and Evander Kane, none of which were more than three games) did not reflect the same level of force Rielly used against Greig.
Finally, Bettman praised Rielly for “forthrightly disavowing” public commentary that Greig deserved the cross-check for his short-range slap shot.
“It is my hope and expectation that the events leading to this suspension were an aberration that will not be repeated,” Bettman concluded.
Rielly has been in the midst of a potentially career-best season with seven goals and 43 points in 50 games. Toronto has posted a perfect 4-0 record since their top defenseman was suspended. The Leafs face Arizona on Wednesday in what will be the final game of Rielly’s sentence.
