Gary Bettman With Harsh Words For Morgan Rielly After Appeal

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has finally made a decision on Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman Morgan Rielly's appeal of his 5-game suspension, and in his ruling Tuesday afternoon to uphold the five-game ban, had some harsh words about Rielly's actions, including "careless", "reckless" and "predatory."

Bettman on Rielly ruling: “As noted in the suspension video, Mr. Rielly pursued Mr. Greig for some time and had sufficient opportunity to engage him in a different manner, e.g, with a push or a shove or even by dropping his gloves to fight.”

“Mr. Rielly himself testified that he…

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) February 20, 2024

Gary Bettman upholds Morgan Rielly's five-game suspension for cross-checking Ridly Greig:

"I find that Mr. Rielly's actions were not merely careless or reckless, they were intentional."

Rielly's already sat out four games; he'll miss the #Leafs game vs. Arizona tomorrow too.

— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) February 20, 2024

Rielly was suspended for cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig in the dying seconds of an Ottawa win over the Leafs on Saturday, Feb. 10, after Greig had wound up in front of an empty Toronto net and blasted a slap shot home for the empty-net game-deciding goal. 

Morgan Rielly has been suspended for five games for cross-checking Ridly Greig.pic.twitter.com/6NISK4AMSt

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 13, 2024

Bettman, however, called the Greig slapshot "utterly irrelevant."

In his ruling on the Morgan Rielly suspension appeal, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman makes it clear that Ridly Greig's slapshot into the empty net before Rielly's cross-check was "utterly irrelevant." pic.twitter.com/9Rbz43k8s4

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 20, 2024

"Although much of the testimony offered by Messrs. Rielly, Treliving and Shanahan at the hearing concerned whether Mr. Greig's slap shot was provocative, that discussion is utterly irrelevant," wrote Bettman. "Mr. Rielly's actions were not undertaken in self-defense. They were not accidental and they were not reflexive. They were not simply careless or merely reckless. With plenty of time to think about what he was going to do next, Mr. Rielly approached Mr. Greig from the side then used his stick as a weapon to deliver the kind of blow to the head that the league has repeatedly made clear will not be tolerated.

"...Predatory behavior was exhibited by Mr. Rielly."

In the end though, Bettman actually credited Rielly for coming clean and owning up to his mistake, and the fact that he had a clean record before this incident was essentially the reasoning behind him getting "only" a five-game suspension.

Ironically, Rielly's actions have seemingly had a galvanizing effect on the Leafs, as they've won all four games he's sat out already.