Tom Gilbert suspended three games for revenge hit on Nick Ritchie

Sometimes, the suspensions explain themselves, but the duration of those suspensions needs a little context.

When Los Angeles Kings defenseman Tom Gilbert hit Anaheim Ducks forward Nick Ritchie on Tuesday night, no penalty was called. But when you saw the replay of that hit – driving upward, leaving his feet, crunching Ritchie from behind along the boards – there was no surprise that he was getting a phone hearing and, likely, a suspension for boarding.

The question was how long that suspension would last – a rather important question, given the Kings’ blue line situation – and on Thursday the answer from the Department of Player Safety was “three games.”

Again, this is why these videos are so valuable. It’s three games because of the nature of the hit, and the context of the hit: Gilbert having been rocked behind the play, seeing the rocker along the boards with his back turned, and then rocking him with a really nasty hit from behind.

Ritchie goes into the concussion protocol, and right there you’re figuring it’s at least two games.

But they’ve handed out three games for this kind of hit, with an injury, fairly consistently. They see it as a hit that simply shouldn’t be delivered; and when it’s delivered with this level of self-awareness from Gilbert, three games seems reasonable.

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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.

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