I am going to break this down for all the people who live under a rock, and haven’t seen the brutal cross check from Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly.

It was Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators were hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs, who already have bad blood between them. 

There was under 10 seconds left in the game, and it was 3-2, and the Maple Leafs pulled their goaltender. Senators forward Ridly Greig skated the puck, all alone into the Toronto zone, and he did the unthinkable, Greig took a full on slap shot into the Toronto empty net, making it 4-2 Senators. UNWRITTEN RULE BROKEN.

Morgan Rielly took offense to this action, and saw RED. Rielly chased Greig up along the boards and cross checked him in the head, and then all hell broke loose.

The NHL Department of Player Safety reviewed Rielly’s actions and said “The player weren’t “mutually jousting” with both accepting some degree of risk”.

Here is a video of the incident:

“This play occurs well after the goal has been scored late in the game with the score out of reach and for the sole purpose of retribution,” the NHL said in its explanation. “While we acknowledge Rielly’s argument that his stick does make some contact with Greig’s body before striking Greig in the head, this is not a case in which a stick that is raised to an excusable level is significantly deflected up and into the head and neck area.” – NHL Department of Player Safety

Reilly has been the top defenseman for the Leafs this season, in 50 games he has recorded 43 points, which is well above average for a defenseman. Rielly has been given a 5 game suspension from the league.

Do you think this is a long enough suspension, or too short?

Let me know in the comments!

-Jay Rossy

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