Morgan Rielly suspended five games for NHL DoPS

After three long days, the verdict is out from DoPS: five games for Morgan Rielly.

The DoPS logic for this solution is:

On Saturday night in Ottawa, Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly was assessed a major penalty and a game violation for forcefully checking the head of Senators forward Ridley Greig after the game.

As the video shows, with seconds left in the game and the Senators ahead, Greig Maple Leafs pulled their goaltender and put Rielly back. Greig approaches the goal, shoots a shot into the empty net, then rolls up the ice to celebrate the goal. As he does so, Rielly glides with purpose and some distance towards Greig, raises his staff with both hands, and deliberately strikes Greig in the head with considerable force. This is cross-checking.

It's important to note that there are a number of factors that separate this play from other counterchecking violations, which elevates the event to merit this level of extra discipline.

This isn't a two-player duel, where both players may be waiting for the relationship to increase or for both players to have their clubs go up.

Nor is it a careless or accidental use of the stick for posturing or other hockey purposes.

This play is played after a goal has been scored, at the end of the game when the score is not enough, and for the sole purpose of punishment.

While we accept Rielly's argument that his baton made some contact with Greig's body before hitting him in the head, this is not a case where the baton was raised to an excusable level and deviated significantly into the head and neck area.

Rielly has been harassing Greig for some time and has enough opportunity to either engage him in another way or ensure that this check is only delivered to the body. Instead, always in complete control of this game, Rielly chooses to raise his stick to Greig's head and neck level, approach from the side, and deliver a powerful blow to the face with his stick after the goal is scored.

In short, this is not a hockey game. It is a deliberate, forceful blow to the head of an opponent, using the stick as a weapon, to give the opponent a good return after a goal has been scored.

In conclusion:

– This is mutual verification.
– Rielly has never been fined or suspended in his 769-game NHL career.
– The Department of Player Safety suspended Morgan Rielly for five games.

Elliott Friedman has researched peer review events leading to additional discipline over the past eight years and discovered the following:

I found 61 cases of additional routines involving counter-checks. Only 18 ended in suspension; 43 fines were imposed. Some that resulted in fines were pretty nasty, so expect Toronto to draw comparisons to what Rielly did. Since Saturday, there have been examples of zero-punishment cross-checking on social media, and perhaps the Maple Leafs have seen them too.

The stretch (four to six games) included three repeat offenders — Nazem Kadri (twice), Gabriel Landeskog and Evgeni Malkin — and a serious injury (Robert Bortuzzo to Viktor Arvidsson).

And Perron (six games).

We're surprised the Leafs set a new precedent that probably won't be followed consistently in the future.

Gary Bettman has the option to appeal the suspension (within 48 hours), although David Perron did so in December, and Bettman upheld the six-game suspension. Unlike Perron, Rielly does not have the right to appeal to an independent referee if Bettman upholds the decision (the suspension must be six or more games). An appeal to the commissioner worked to shorten Jason Spezza's suspension from six games to four a few years ago, but historically, the process takes as long as most suspensions are usually served.

Last season, the Leafs capitalized on Rielly's absence, going 11-2-2 and more or less securing a divisional playoff spot by the end of December.

Before suffering a knee injury in November 2022, Rielly played 23 minutes per game in 20 starts, recording 16 assists and zero goals during that time. The Leafs sat out TJ Brody for the first seven of Rielly's 15 games, so they've had a second pairing of Mark Giordano-Justin Hall, Rasmus Sandin-Timothy Liljegren and some bottom pairings. A combination of Jordy Benn, Victor Mete and Mack Hollowell. When Brody returned, he paired up with recent acquisition Conor Timmins and the team continued to run on a front four of Giordano-Hall and Sandin-Lillegren until Rielly returned.

Rielly is playing an even bigger role on the blue line this season — 24:21 in TOI per game ranks him 17th in the NHL among defensemen — and he's been more productive with seven goals and 43 points in 50 games. Hall and Sandin have gone back to pastures, while Brody has taken a step back in his game, and Timmins is not limited by mononucleosis. This year, the Leafs will start with one regular forward pairing (Simon Benoit-Jake McCabe) and join Brody (now left)-Liljegren and Lagesson-Giordano as other pairings.

Although Rielly's absence will be shorter, the stakes are higher this time around. The Leafs are weeks away from the trade deadline with an infield track in third place in the division, but they need to win their games to overtake Tampa and catch up in the wild card race. They face an extended schedule with the Blues x2, Flyers, Ducks and Coyotes starting on February 22nd (Vegas x2, Avalanche, Rangers and Bruins complete) against a much tougher slate of opponents where they will need to bank points. six game stretch).

Add it all up, and it's time for a mostly healthy forward group for the Leafs, especially their core lead group, to lead by digging the lane. The Leafs played their most reliable 2022-23 team defense, which has struggled with injuries. the blue bar was last November-December, and the recipe should be even higher this time.

Another important aspect of the team's 11-2-2 run without Rielly last year was the performance of their goalies. Matt Murray is 6-1-1 with a .931 save percentage, and Ilya Samsonov is 5-1-0 with a .920. Samsonov's first half this season hasn't been as strong as last season, but it's time to start tonight against St. Louis.