Rinaldo suspended 2 games
Daily News Flyers blog
Rinaldo suspended 2 games
UPDATED (7:15pm): Rinaldo has been suspended for two games by Brendan Shanahan, who posted a video explanation on his ruling which can be found below.
By our count, Rinaldo will forfeit $5,885 of his salary for the suspension. He will be eligible to return to the lineup on Feb. 21 in Winnipeg.
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DETROIT -- Since September, Zac Rinaldo’s campaign to earn a spot in the Flyers’ lineup on a nightly basis has revolved around discipline.
Much like Dan Carcillo, the player he replaced, Rinaldo is a player who is only effective when he skates on the edge between nice and nasty, using his body to make the opposition think twice with the puck on their sticks.
For the most part, Rinaldo has played on the right side of the line.
He is second in the NHL in penalty minutes with 156, though 110 of those minutes are either a fighting major or a misconduct penalty.
And Rinaldo has never been suspended. But that may change on Monday.
The NHL announced on Monday that Rinaldo has a disciplinary hearing scheduled later this afternoon with the Department of Player Safety, headed by Brendan Shanahan, to discuss his first period hit on Detroit’s Jonathan Ericsson.
The hit occurred with 6:28 remaining in the period.
Rinaldo was assessed a charging minor on the play, but that doesn’t always dictate supplementary discipline.
As you can see, Rinaldo catches Ericsson as soon as he turns his head after making a backhand pass behind the Detroit net. It is not a “blindside” hit per se, in the sense that Ericsson’s complete body is facing Rinaldo’s direction.
The hit itself is relatively clean. Rinaldo does not use his elbows and the primary point of contact appears to be Ericsson’s chest.
As NBC Sports Network’s Brian Engblom says in the broadcast, Ericsson put himself in a vulnerable position for looking back to making his pass. But where Rinaldo may be in trouble is that he takes a good 4 or 5 strides, lining him up, before delivering the blow.
That’s where the charging call came in. And that’s where he could face a suspension.
Rinaldo will be on the conference call with Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. The decision may not be announced quickly, depending on Shanahan’s other workload for the day, since the Flyers don’t play again until Thursday night.
WEAK STREAK: Great column by our own stat guru Bob Vetrone about why the Detroit Red Wings’ streak, in which they tied the 1975-76 Flyers on Sunday night with 20 straight home wins, is fraudulent.
Why? Because the Flyers’ streak was actually wins, without the benefit of 3 shootouts and one overtime wins. In 1975-76, the Wings’ streak would have been an “unbeaten streak” instead of a “winning” streak.
PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1: Did you notice that Max Talbot was booed loudly at Joe Louis Arena when he scored in the second period to give the Flyers a lead? It wasn't because the Flyers scored, either.
The Red Wings fans haven’t forgotten when Talbot singlehandedly delivered Pittsburgh a Stanley Cup on their turf. Back of June 12, 2009, Talbot scored twice to give the Penguins a 2-1 win in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Sunday was just Talbot’s third game back at the Joe since then.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers
Rinaldo is a beast out there. I wish half the guys on our team played with his intensity. The hit was fine. Sure he took strides towards him Ericsson was playing the freaking puck ! What's he supposed to do, coast towards him? Zack didn't aim for the head nor did he leave his feet. He hit him square in the chest. Its not like Ericsson is in the hospital somewhere, he got up ( all be it slowly) and skated off. Quit wiener-izing the sport. Don't want to get clocked? Keep your head up and on a swivel. If the NHL is going to look at that hit, then why don't they take a look at the hit that was placed on Danny Briere while there at it. You know, if Crosby made a hit like that it would be played on highlight reels for 2 weeks and we'd never hear the end of it.... (HTML deleted)— FlyerFighter- Rinaldo is a beast out there. I wish half the guys on our team played with his intensity. The hit was fine. Sure he took strides towards him Ericsson was playing the freaking puck ! What's he supposed to do, coast towards him? Zack didn't aim for the head nor did he leave his feet. He hit him square in the chest.
Its not like Ericsson is in the hospital somewhere, he got up ( all be it slowly) and skated off. Quit wiener-izing the sport. Don't want to get clocked? Keep your head up and on a swivel. If the NHL is going to look at that hit, then why don't they take a look at the hit that was placed on Danny Briere while there at it.
You know, if Crosby made a hit like that it would be played on highlight reels for 2 weeks and we'd never hear the end of it....— FlyerFighter - 2 minutes well worth it— Bob Sacamano
- Wasn't a penalty. Rinaldo made that hit they say he was "hunting" him (the dude had the puck, of course he was being hunted) The redwing hit in Briere was a good hockey play by a smart hockey player by the Versus crew. Pure BS.— Sidewinder7
- What Rinaldo did used to be called a good hockey play. Now it's a penalty. Didn't anyone teach Ericcson not to admire his passes. There is more contact going on in the concourse between periods than they are allowing on the ice. This is taking the League one step closer to being "Disney on Ice".— Dennyb21
- So what happens if Ericsson holds onto the puck and Rinaldo still hits him? Is there even a call being placed by Shanahan? Rinaldo, coasted from the hash marks to the point of contact. I can't see that charging call either.— JAG27
- Rinaldo sucks, dude. Hitting is not defense...fighting is not defense, and that is exactly what this team needs. I don't mind the hits, and obviously essential if it is within a sound defensive play and philosophy. I agree and also don't want "disney on ice", but stop idolizing the shelleys, rinaldos, and sestitos of the world that really can't play other than a few "energy" hits and fights. What the hell is that? This is more of a rant on our team D, but when are we going to realize that we need to drop the "enforcer-only" type player and replace with guys like Thornton or Prust that are enforcers but are more valuable to what they bring on the team defense and checking lines. Or, give me guys like Burgenheim, Madden, Talbot, Harry Z, Powe, that just know their role. Our team d sucks and we will not win a thing without getting the whole team, not just our "top 6" dmen to play d. Damn, I'm a frustrated Flyer fan.
- He's hardly a one-dimensional enforcer. The guy can skate and check like a mad man. There was absolutely nothing legally wrong with his check on Ericsson. He hit the guy in the chest with his shoulder a split second after he passed it. All we learned from Shanahan's ruling is that he can be as bad as Campbell, and that just like his predecesor, he uses a Magic 8-Ball to make his judgments. These guys aren't qualified to oversee discipline. They have no experience enforcing discipline as it pertains to a system of laws. The job should be held by a judge or lawyer - someone familiar and experienced with navigating legal systems. At most, a former player should be a consultant. Norm Abram really knows what to do with a piece of walnut, but that doesn't mean he's qualified to be CEO of Georgia Pacific. THAT is the problem. The NHL claims to be interested in mitigating on-ice injuries, but they don't take reasonable steps to do so with their choice to put people like Campbell and Shanahan in that role. — sklandog
- Rinaldo sucks, dude. Hitting is not defense...fighting is not defense, and that is exactly what this team needs. I don't mind the hits, and obviously essential if it is within a sound defensive play and philosophy. I agree and also don't want "disney on ice", but stop idolizing the shelleys, rinaldos, and sestitos of the world that really can't play other than a few "energy" hits and fights. What the hell is that? This is more of a rant on our team D, but when are we going to realize that we need to drop the "enforcer-only" type player and replace with guys like Thornton or Prust that are enforcers but are more valuable to what they bring on the team defense and checking lines. Or, give me guys like Burgenheim, Madden, Talbot, Harry Z, Powe, that just know their role. Our team d sucks and we will not win a thing without getting the whole team, not just our "top 6" dmen to play d. Damn, I'm a frustrated Flyer fan.
- Pretty sure I saw him mouth eff u to the referee after the fight with Dubinsky Sat. Maybe that's what the hearing's about.— potus
Comment removed.- Rinaldo is not bad defensively he doesn't have a whole lot of turnovers(mind u he doesn't really carry the puck that, much nor should he) and he does a decent job getting back. However his type of play forces other teams to make turnovers in the offensive or defensive zone. That's why I don't understand why Lavi broke up that Schenn Rinaldo simmonds line, they played really well together and came really hard at the opposing team. I think that line was responsible for 2 or 3 points that night. Rinaldo causing havoc with two guys who can capitalize on the turnovers. Put Briere back with matt reid.— mos19delta
- dave1walsh: you want Harry Z out there to sure up the D? That guy may be the worst defensive player on the team. Note his -12 season +/- rating, which is DOUBLE the next closest player (-6 for Shelley). So, what is Harry Z's role again? He can't fight, he is not an offensive threat, he is soft on the puck, and he can't play defense-- add all that up and you will understand his glaring -12 rating. And hence, why the Flyers are playing guys like Wellwood instead of him now.— snipesmorris
- Plus/minus is a horrible metric - if you could even call it that. It's only useful if you want to take up precious hard drive space with nonsense, or if you've printed out the data, as a door stop. I'd rather someone just say they don't like Harry Z because his name was too hard to spell. At best, it's a team statistic that doesn't equitably or fairly debit and credit players for their contributions. — sklandog
