Maple Leafs should suspend Rielly for 5 games, coach says

The NHL Department of Player Safety suspended Morgan Rielly for five games on Tuesday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman was disciplined for checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridley Greig in the closing seconds of Saturday's 5-3 loss in Ottawa.

The incident occurred after Greig hit an empty net six seconds into the third period. Rielly then slid over to the Senators and checked his head.

He was assessed a major penalty and game violation in the game.

Rielly was scheduled to meet with the Department of Player Safety in New York on Tuesday, but due to the snowstorm, it was moved to a virtual hearing.

The 29-year-old, who leads Maple Leafs defensemen in goals (seven), assists (36), points (43) and ice time (24:21) in 50 games this season, will not return until February. 22, when Toronto visits the Vegas Golden Knights.

“First, don't try to do too much, don't feel that the responsibility is bigger than you can handle. It's just going out and playing,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said before Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Blues. “Sometimes it works out well for some players because you think less. You have to go. You don't have time to give up, and if you make a mistake, you can be instantly pulled back. … In some cases, guys are excited about the opportunity to go out there and show that they can play.

“Whether you're doing well or not so well, everyone is always looking for more opportunities. Guys want to play and play a lot. That's where we are and the team has to come out and respond.”

It will be Toronto's first significant stretch without Rielly since Nov. 22-Dec. 28 in 2022, he missed 15 games with a knee injury. The Maple Leafs were 12-2-1 without him.

“We've handled similar situations in recent years where players have left our lineup,” Keefe said. “Morgan went down with an injury last year and we thought, 'This is not good,' and then we played our best hockey as a team and played our best game. … You never know how these things are going to play out, but our team has gotten stronger in the past and we're going to need it again.”

The Maple Leafs (26-16-8) are currently tied with the Detroit Red Wings for the first wild card from the Eastern Conference into the Stanley Cup playoffs, four points ahead of the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders.

“We're going to miss a big part of our lineup, right? So we have to strengthen the (defensive) core to make sure his absence doesn't have too much of an impact,” Maple Leafs defenseman Simon Benoit said. “Obviously he's a good player and we'll obviously miss him in the squad because of the number of games he's going to miss, but we've got to do the best we can now.”

NHL.com freelance reporter Dave McCarthy contributed to this report