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Daniel Carcillo's Stanley Cup playoffs are all but done. The Rangers forward was given an automatic 10-game suspension from the NHL on Friday for his contact with an official in Thursday's Game 3 loss to Montreal.
The NHL detailed the exact violation by Carcillo:
At 14:09 of the first period, Carcillo physically applied force to Linesman Scott Driscoll while being escorted to the penalty box. Rule 40.3 Physical Abuse of Officials -- Category II states: "Any player who deliberately applies physical force to an official in any manner (excluding actions as set out in Category I), which physical force is applied without intent to injure, or who spits on an official, shall be automatically suspended for not less than ten (10) games."
This suspension means that Carcillo wouldn't be able to return this postseason unless the Rangers were to make it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Otherwise, he won't be able to play again until next season.
There wasn't much decision here for the NHL on this one, it's clearly stated in the rulebook what the punishment would be. It's not a surprise to anybody, including his coach Alain Vigneault.
"There should be no doubt that Dan's not going to be available," Vigneault said earlier on Friday. "There is no excuse for what he did there. That being said, we'll have a better idea tomorrow of what's available to us, and we'll make the right decisions."
Carcillo has appeared in eight games for the Rangers this postseason with two critical goals (this one in Philly drew quite the reaction) while average 8:46 of ice time per game.
