Rasmus Ristolainen Suspended Three Games For Hit During Sabres-Penguins Game
The Buffalo Sabres will be paper-thin at blueline for a trio of late-season games without their best defenseman .
The Buffalo Sabres found out the fate of their No.1 defenseman this afternoon, and as I expected, it was anything but good news:
Buffalo’s Rasmus Ristolainen suspended three games for interference on Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) March 23, 2017
Rasmus Ristolainen suspended three games for big hit on Jake Guentzel (Video) https://t.co/I59sCicUNo via @YahooSports
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) March 23, 2017
While a lot of fans thought the suspension should be two, at most, I could actually see the NHL going as high as five games, since Jake Guentzel was concussed on the play. For some reason, the NHL still bases its punishment in part on how severe an injury was, instead of just punishing all illegal hits equally.
Had Guenztel not been concussed, it is conceivable that Ristolainen would not have received any suspension at all! Go figure.
Fan reaction to the announcement by the NHL Department of Player Safety can be organized into three categories: those who find the suspension 100% warranted . . .
(No surprise – read his Twitter handle)
. . . those who didn’t think the hit didn’t deserve any suspension at all . . .
. . . and the more practical category, those who admit that Risto deserved some sort of penalty but cannot figure out how the NHLDPOS determines who to punish, or for how long:
Yet no suspension for stuff like this: https://t.co/0OxeWWnY78
— Jeffrey Sparshott (@jeffsparshott) March 23, 2017
That was a certain penalty-not sure it was suspension worthy. In any event, NHL discipline appears totally random
— Jeffrey Sparshott (@jeffsparshott) March 23, 2017
this is a joke...fans think you are a joke...a flying elbow gets two games, boarding gets two games...risto gets three...
— Michael Pritchard (@outerdegree2031) March 23, 2017
Everyone is too hard NHLPS they are using cutting edge dice rolls, tarot cards and magic 8 balls to come up with this stuff
— Hoss Catbacker (@hosscatbacker) March 23, 2017
The NHL DPOS will be releasing a video explaining the suspension later today, so I will make sure to update this post when that video becomes available. Whatever their reasons, the Buffalo Sabres will be without the services of Rasmus Ristolainen when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs (3/25), the Florida Panthers (3/27), and the Columbus Blue Jackets (3/28).