This hasn’t been a good week for Zac Rinaldo.
The left winger became the first player to be simultaneously suspended from the NHL and AHL after he received a match penalty for hitting Bridgeport Sound Tigers defenseman Kane Lafranchise in the head during the second period of their game Friday night while playing for the Providence Bruins.
Rinaldo was sent to Providence following his five-game suspension for an illegal check to the head on Tampa Bay’s Cedric Paquette.
This wasn’t his first rodeo with controversial hits during his career, as chronicled by NBCSN following the Paquette hit:
- 10/21/2015: Received a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct for a hit on Sean Couturier but wasn’t suspended. The NHL Department of Player Safety ruled it wasn’t elbowing, interference, an illegal check to the head, and charging “for the purposes of supplemental discipline.”
He was previously suspended eight games last season for charging/boarding Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang. Two years ago, Rinaldo was suspended four games for an illegal check to the head of defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, who played for Buffalo at the time. In 2012, he earned a two-game ban for charging Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson.
It appears that Rinaldo won’t be putting on a jersey – NHL or AHL – anytime soon. It should also be noted that Rinaldo can’t begin serving his NHL suspension until the Bruins call him back up.
