Morgan Rielly got suspended five games for confronting Ridly Greig and now the tables have completely turned

During a February 10th game vs. the Ottawa Senators in 2024, the Maple Leafs came away with a loss, but also lost defenceman Morgan Rielly to a five-game suspension after he crosschecked Ridly Greig into the boards after the latter scored an empty-net goal to seal the victory.

There was a lot of debate over whether or not Rielly deserved the suspension, especially knowing that Greig took a snapshot from two feet out to score instead of just quietly shovelling it into the net. Things have been testy ever since, and Greig is a player who has always had an eye kept on him just in case.

So it isn't too shocking then to see that karma has finally caught up to him. During Saturday's loss to the Hurricanes, Greig decided to just sucker punch Sean Walker after getting tangled up with him towards the end of the game.

It was seen as a nasty bit of work from a notoriously dirty player and there's a good chance he could face some punishment — and he's going to have to answer for his actions.

Greig is expected to have a hearing with the NHL Player Safety board and see if there is any further punishment, which is going to bring up a whole new can of worms, especially if Greig gets away with only a game or two.

Thankfully Walker wasn't seriously hurt, and Greig knowing that this is the end of the line for him this year decided the best way to go out was to be unprofessional. It's the definition of being a sore loser, and he could face some serious backlash.

If he were to be suspended however, it would carry over into next season as there's no more games for Ottawa left to play; so for his sake he hopes it's not long.

It brings up the debate again whether or not there is a potential anti-Maple Leafs bias, because if Greig ends up getting only a game or two for a sucker punch and being a bad sport; then what was the reason for Rielly? He was equally a sore loser and gets the same as Radko Gudas got for maiming Auston Matthews.

But it's going to only strengthen the argument that the NHL and more specifically their Player Safety Department doesn't like them very much. We've seen time and time again the inconsistencies from Player Safety in general, but it always seems like Toronto is either punished more, or given less.

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action. First it was Rielly back in 2024, then Matthews this season. If we get a third case (well actually about the sixth) then it'e enemy action.

And Toronto is ready to go to war.

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