Brendan Shanahan, head disciplinarian for the NHL, announced via twitter that Zac Rinaldo has been suspended two games for his hit on Jonathan Ericsson last night in the Flyers’ 4-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
Shanahan’s explanation for the suspension: “Ericsson reverses the puck and still is looking to his left when Rinaldo approaches from his right. Ericsson is absolutely eligible to be hit in this situation and Rinaldo is in position to potentially deliver a legal, punishing hit. Instead, Rinaldo launches himself high and into Ericsson, his skates considerably leaving the ice. This is charging.
“Although Ericsson should have been more aware and prepared to face an oncoming check after reversing the puck, that still doesn’t allow Rinaldo to launch himself to deliver such a high hit. In doing so, Rinaldo turned what might have been a hard, legal body check into an illegal charge.”
Shanahan goes further to say in the video that it’s obvious Rinaldo left the ice to deliver the hit when you consider he’s five inches shorter than Ericsson and still clipped him in the chin.
They also factored in that Rinaldo was fined for two hits in the 6-4 loss to the New Jersey Devils just a week prior. Rinaldo publicly admitted he was trying to “stir the pot” in those incidents, much to the NHL’s disappointment.
I can’t say that I love the suspension, but I understand where the NHL is coming from. Rinaldo entered the NHL this season with a target on his back due to his reputation. I was concerned heading into the season as well that if his maturity wasn’t where it needed to be, he could turn into the next Jesse Boulerice and find himself at the end of a twenty-game suspension.
Instead, he has been a fairly level-headed player that has been able to toe the line effectively with his hits, for the most part. Shanahan was quoted at the end of January as saying, “Philadelphia told me about Zac Rinaldo… He’s a really big hitter. Hits hard. But they said to him that if you see 20 hits a game in your head, pick the best three. That’s enough to be a physical, intimidating player in this League. When I hear coaching like that, that’s when I’m thinking there’s full buy-in there.”
In the loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, Rinaldo laid a bone-crushing hit in the defensive zone that helped move the play back up the ice. Wayne Simmonds scored on the end of the shift.
In the end, this suspension does have an impact on Rinaldo’s long-term value to the team. He now joins Jody Shelley and Tom Sestito as Flyers with marginal skills beyond hitting and fighting who have been suspended this season.
If Rinaldo could eventually contribute to the team in other areas like the penalty kill or in face-offs, maybe the NHL would begin to overlook his reputation. Until then, though, he’s just another Dan Carcillo, waiting for the NHL to give him a break that isn’t coming.
For the latest Flyers news and updates, you can follow me on twitter (@JoshJanet).
Another useless bum, taking too many stupid, soft penalties. Homer better make some better roster moves this off season, or he might be on the hot-seat. Because this year is going downhill quick. Lavy better start cracking the wip. BTW, Briere needs to go. I think he is done. When he is healthy, he doesn’t seem to click with anyone. I’d hate to see how bad we would be, if we didn’t luck out with all of the young guys. But they seem to be coming back down to Earth. What happened to Jagr? He hasn’t been the same since the groin injury. The goalies are atrocious!!!
*whip.
Don’t know what the dollar implications were, but I’d have rather have seen Darrol Powe stay and a guy like Shelley let go before the season. Powe is fast, hits, grinds, and kills penalties. I don’t understand the reasoning there.
I also don’t understand why it’s OK now to let players stand in front of the Flyer goalie during power plays. Is the plan to block shots before they get to the goalie? Whatever it is, it ain’t looking very effective. I can’t blame the players for what I’m seeing because all the defensemen seem to be doing this same thing. Unless I’m missing too much of the play (certainly possible), it feels like a bad coaching strategy that needs to change.
Timm00, the Flyers were able to trade Powe in the offseason for Minnesota’s 3rd round pick. For a 4th liner, that trade is pretty good.
I would argue more about why Andreas Nodl was let go over Jody Shelley, but thats just me.
Josh, thanks for the correction. I thought Powe was a free agent walkoff.
FWIW, I would have sent Nodl away for a small order of fries. At least guys like Rinaldo and Powe are disruptive in the offensive zone and keep opposing defensemen honest. Nodl – while more useful than Shelley – wouldn’t bang and didn’t really show any sort of offensive ability. To me, you need one or the other (or maybe a specialty like winning face-offs). I have to believe the Phantoms have several Nodl-caliber players right now.
I can only guess that Shelley’s contract was overly generous.
I REALLY miss Aaron Asham….
The biggest problem with the flyers is defense. They miss pronged like crazy. If he were playing you would see bett play from everyone because he commands respect. This is the same reason the flyers struggled at times last year….when pronged was injured and never returned to form. End of the day the flyers miss pronger and need some sort of defenseman who can fill his shoes while overachieving, I say this because they don’t have the cap space or pieces to trade for a guy at pronged dollars.