Toronto Maple Leafs Finally Show Some Fight - Rielly Likely to Be Suspended

Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly cross-checked Ridly Greig at the end of the game on Saturday night, and as a result, he's probably going to get suspended.

It’s about time the Toronto Maple Leafs showed some fight. I haven’t seen that type of effort from this team in forever, so Rielly’s effort to stick up for his team was a valiant one, if you ask me.

However, the internet is losing its mind, and people are suspecting he could get suspended for as many as 6 games.

I know that violence in the NHL has decreased over the years, but this is still hockey, at the end of the day. Sports are all about “unwritten rules,” and Greig crossed a line and deserved to be punished. Greig is a 21-year-old rookie, who only has 58 NHL games under his belt. He spent his junior career in the WHL, which should mean he knows how to protect himself; however, it’s not the same WHL as it used to be.

Rielly Is Going to Be Suspended

When Greig took a slap-shot to score an essentially meaningless goal with only 5 seconds left in the game, he should have known what was going to happen. Instead, he watched Rielly approach him, assuming nothing would. If he pulled that move 20 years ago, he would have already had his gloves off to fight, which is why I don’t think Rielly should get suspended for very long, if at all.

When you look back at Rielly’s act, he barely got a hold of him. He may have cross-checked him high, but if that was a play in the corner, battling for a puck, he would have got a two-minute minor.

Greig wasn't injured and Rielly has no history of doing things like this, which seems to be the NHL's main consideration when deciding on suspensions.

Greig is just as guilty for his awful display of sportsmanship and his Ottawa Senators teammates should be ashamed of what he did. It was a classless move by a classless player, and someone who should be lucky to even be playing in the NHL.

While Rielly is virtually guaranteed to be suspended, I don't think that he should be. I liked hockey better when the player were expected to police themselves. I think the replay in slow motion. makes it look worse than it was and that Rielly should get off with a fine and a stern warning,

Suspened or not, it's great that someone on this team finally showed some emotion, and hopefuly this sparks the team going forward.