Boston Bruins: Zac Rinaldo Ejected In First AHL Game
Boston Bruins: Zac Rinaldo Ejected In First AHL Game
Zac Rinaldo was recently waived and sent down to the Providence Bruins of the AHL following a hit to the head of Tampa Bay Lightning forward Cedric Paquette. After being waived and sent down to the AHL, the NHL handed out a five game suspension to the oft-troubled forward, his fourth suspension in his five NHL seasons. The AHL can choose to honor an NHL suspension, but it appeared that Rinaldo would get a chance to play some AHL hockey first before serving his NHL suspension with the Boston Bruins; the result wasn’t pretty.
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In his first game with the Providence Bruins following his demotion, Zac Rinaldo proved that there is lower than rock-bottom. Zac Rinaldo hit Kane Lafranchise of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Friday night which resulted in a five minute major plus a game misconduct. Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get worse for Zac Rinaldo, he showed that old tendencies are apparently simply too hard to avoid for long.
Rinaldo played a fairly respectable game for the most part in the NHL this season, but many people expected the other shoe to drop at some point. Unfortunately for Cedric Paquette and Kane Lafranchise, the other shoe dropped hard, and in consecutive games in two different leagues.
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The NHL has shown a more stern method of handling repeat offenders as of late with Raffi Torres receiving two suspensions worth 25-games, and 41-games respectively for continously showing the league that the smaller punishments simply weren’t doing enough to deter his poor behaviour. Matt Cooke was suspended for 17-games at one point in his career, and his reputation speaks for itself — just ask Marc Savard. With Zac Rinaldo showing that he simply cannot be trusted to play the game of hockey properly for any extended period of time, the NHL — and apparently AHL — will have to show both Rinaldo, and any other similar player that the NHL is trending in a safer direction, with them or without them.
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After “investing” a third round draft pick for Zac Rinaldo this past offseason, Don Sweeney must be second-guessing his decision in retrospect. Players with Zac Rinaldo‘s tendencies shouldn’t have a place in the NHL, and it will be interesting to see how the NHL, and Boston Bruins handle this situation going forward.
Follow Brandon Share-Cohen on Twitter @BShareCohen to discuss all things Bruins and sports