NHL explains Rasmus Ristolainen suspension (Video)

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was suspended three games on Thursday for laying out Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel on Tuesday night, concussing him with an illegal interference play.

The NHL announced the suspension before issuing its usual video explanation. Whether or not the immediate release of the video would have quelled some of the negative reaction to the ban from Sabres faithful is a point of consideration, but the bottom line is that the three games were seen as excessive.

[Follow Puck Daddy on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

A scan of social media reaction saw accusations of bias for the Penguins, proclamations of unfairness after Brandon Manning only received two games for this hit on Guentzel and even a report that the Sabres will appeal the suspension, even though there’s a better chance that Gary Bettman adds a second team to Glendale than overturns a reasonably justifiable three-game suspension to a player on a non-playoff team in late March.

So here’s the official explanation about the suspension:

This hit a trifecta for the Department of Player Safety: a player that wasn’t eligible to be hit, an opponent who delivered one in an irresponsible way – and by his own admission, an approach that made it impossible to change his trajectory – and a significant injury, which plays into the punitive phase of the decision.

The concussion probably pushes this thing to three games, although as Mike Harrington noted it’s basically four games, given when he was kicked out the Penguins’ game. Which might make this seem like a bit much.

But as usual, the explanation on the DoPS video justifies their thinking. Bad hit that shouldn’t have been delivered, bad result with the injury and one assumes a behavior corrected for a good young player.

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS