Morgan Rielly, a talented defenceman, will miss five games for the Maple Leafs.
Rielly’s cross-check to Ottawa Senators winger Ridly Greig’s head following the play on Saturday was deemed to have crossed a line by the NHL’s department of player safety. Greig scored into an empty net to put an intense Battle of Ontario to bed, and Rielly was responding with a slapshot.
Rielly is available to play again on February 22 in Vegas against the Golden Knights after missing Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues.
According to the team’s social media posts, the Leafs were also without forwards Mitch Marner and John Tavares because of illness.
After the defenseman and members of the Maple Leafs front office and the NHL Players’ Association met via video conference with George Parros, the former NHL enforcer who oversees the department of player safety, the league announced Rielly’s suspension, which is the first of his 11-year career. The original plan called for an in-person hearing, but that was interrupted by a storm in New York.
Rielly was having a Lady Byng-esque season up until Saturday, averaging more than 24 minutes per game despite only racking up eight penalty minutes.
On Saturday night, he was given a game misconduct and a five-minute major.
On February 3, Rielly participated in his first all-star game and finished seventh among defensemen in points with seven goals and 36 assists.
The Leafs activated forward Alex Steeves from the Marlies and David Kämpf made a comeback to the lineup after missing time due to an unexplained injury on Tuesday while Marner and Tavares were out.
In addition, since Martin Jones was not available, the squad called up goalie Dennis Hildeby to support Ilya Samsonov.
