The NHL's player safety department suspended Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly for cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig on Saturday.
The NHL Department of Player Safety suspended Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly five games for cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig.
Rielly's suspension came out on Tuesday after holding a hearing with the player safety department earlier in the afternoon. Rielly was offered an in-person hearing at the league offices — which opened the door for more than a five-game suspension — but a snowstorm in New York forced the hearing to be done remotely.
The incident occurred at the tail-end of Saturday night's tilt between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators. After blocking a point shot from Leafs forward William Nylander, Greig sprung free on an empty-net breakaway, and he skated the puck into the slot before taking a slapshot to give the Sens a 5-3 lead with less than six seconds remaining.
Rielly took exception to the slapshot and cross-checked Greig up high, which ignited a scrum. Rielly received a major penalty and game misconduct.
"Rielly skates toward Greig with purpose and from some distance, raises his stick high with both hands and intentionally strikes Greig in the head with substantial force," the NHL Department of Player Safety said in a video explaining the suspension.
"This is not the case of two players mutually jousting where both players could reasonably expect escalating contact or for both players' sticks to come up high," the video added. "This is also not an inadvertent or accidental use of the stick while leveraging for body position or other hockey purposes."
Other factors included the score being out of reach near the end of the game, the hit happening well after the goal was scored, not being a hockey play and Rielly not having any prior history of supplemental discipline.
Rielly is averaging a career-high 24:21 minutes per game, a figure that is 2:37 more per night than TJ Brodie, who ranks second on the Leafs in ice time. Toronto sits in a wild-card spot, so every point matters despite losing Rielly for this amount of time.
“Morgan’s not a malicious player and somebody that’s dirty, by any means,” Auston Matthews said after Monday’s practice. “I think him approaching him was something that was just bound to happen. Somebody was going to do it, especially after a play like that. I just don’t think it’s really necessary to go down there and ‘hardest shot competition’ into the net.”
Greig, 21, is in his first full NHL season with the Senators. The 2020 first-round pick has often been known as an agitator, but his latest antic didn’t sit right with some players.
"A slapshot on an empty net? No, I've never seen that one,” Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano told reporters. “I mean, I've seen guys put the puck into an empty net after a whistle, which is sometimes accidental, sometimes on purpose. But I’ve never seen that one.”
Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves didn’t pull back any punches when providing his thoughts to reporters on Monday.
"If you rewind to when I came into the league, (Greig is) probably still laying on the ice," Reaves said, as per The Athletic's Chris Johnston.
Toronto and Ottawa won’t meet again until the 2024-25 season.