Zac Rinaldo has been suspended yet again and will have to sit out the next half-dozen games.
The Arizona Coyotes forward was handed a six-game ban by the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Wednesday night as the result of an incident during a game against the Colorado Avalanche over the weekend.
During Saturday's Yotes-Avs game, Rinaldo delivered an open-ice hit that left Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon momentarily stunned. Immediately after delivering the hit, Rinaldo turned around and grabbed Colorado's Samuel Girard and sucker punched the 19-year-old rookie in the face.
The league's player safety division ruled that Rinaldo's check on MacKinnon was clean and fair, but disciplined him for delivering a punch "to the face of an opponent who had given no indication that he was anticipating a fight or was, in any way, a willing combatant."
In today's NHL, it's pretty rare to see a big hit -- clean or not -- not be followed by a confrontation, so it's likely Rinaldo was expecting to be jumped by one of MacKinnon's teammates and was in self-defense mode. But, in the heat of the moment, Rinaldo pulled the trigger way too early and, as a result, he comes off as the one jumping an opponent.
It's an unfortunate sequence that can be chalked up to the speed and intensity that's often a staple of hockey, but it's also one that certainly deserves supplemental discipline. Rinaldo has to be more responsible and ensure that he has got an opponent who's ready to square up before he throws his gloves off and starts swinging.
Unfortunately for Rinaldo, he also doesn't get the benefit of the doubt thanks to his history as a repeat offender. He has a reputation as a dirty player and this will be his fifth suspension since entering the league in 2011. Over the course of his NHL career, Rinaldo has been suspended for a total of 25 games, fined twice and forfeited nearly $175,000 in salary. He has 11 career goals.
Unless he gets smart and learns to start harnessing his toughness for good rather than recklessly using it to put guys in danger, Rinaldo's days at the NHL level could be numbered.
