Nick Ritchie has been suspended eight games by Liiga for punching a defenceless opponent in the head multiple times.
This is Ritchie's first season overseas after he failed to earn a contract from the St. Louis Blues on a PTO.
As a Maple Leaf back in 2021-22, Ritchie played in 33 games and scored 2 goals and 9 points with the franchise. He was then traded in exchange for Ryan Dzingel and Ilya Lyubushkin midseason.
TRADE: We've acquired forward Ryan Dzingel & defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin from Arizona in exchange for forward Nick Ritchie & choice of our third-round selection in '23 or second-round selection in '25.
The forward will now be forced to miss a large portion of his season and may be barred from ever playing in the NHL again because of this play.
