Daniel Carcillo’s suspension changed to six games
New York Rangers forward Daniel Carcillo will have his suspension revised to six games rather than ten after violating Rule 40.4 in May. The National Hockey League’s commissioner, Gary Bettman, made the announcement Tuesday.
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The incident occurred when Carcillo was said to hit official Scott Driscoll. Violating Rule 40.3 results in a minimum suspension of 10 games according to the rule book. However, Carcillo appealed the decision and a closer look was taken at his case.
Carcillo was originally stated to have violated rule 40.3 for deliberately applying physical force to an official. Upon review of the incident, Bettman ruled that a violation of Rule 40.4 was more appropriate. Rule 40.4 states that he deliberately applied “physical force to an official for the sole purpose of getting free of such official during or immediately following an altercation.” Rather than a minimum of ten games, Rule 40.4 has a minimum of six game suspension, thus the change.
The revised ruling is much better in this case, as Carcillo was being held by Driscoll after his teammates were fighting. Driscoll was attempting to prevent further men from joining the brawl and unfortunately doing so resulted in an accidental hit to the face.
Carcillo has already served three games and will only need to serve three more. Luckily Carcillo will have served his sentence with enough time to see some ice time in the Stanley Cup Finals. Even if a sweep of the series occurs, which is highly unlikely, he will be back to play Game 4.
The NHL takes any incident involving an official as a serious matter. In an effort to keep all linesman safe, the proper enforcement of Rule 40 is not taken lightly. It not only keeps these men safe, but it lets players know that these types of happenings will not be tolerated.
The entire case review is posted on NHL.com for further review.