If Zac Rinaldo Gets Suspended For This Hit, It's Mostly On Reputation

By Matt Dolloff (@mattdolloff)

BOSTON (CBS) -- I hate to be that guy and "defend" Zac Rinaldo. I really do. He is still most certainly a dirty player, despite saying he has changed, and there's no place in the game for the type of hits he usually delivers. Because of his atrocious reputation around the NHL, he will likely face league discipline for his hit on the Philadelphia Flyers' Sean Courturier Wednesday night.

But in a vacuum, the hit was really not as dirty as many people will perceive today. If and when Rinaldo gets suspended for the hit, it will be because of his reputation. It will be the proverbial final straw, the culmination of a career filled with bush-league plays - not because this particular hit was too dirty.

To be clear, that's not to say that it was a clean hit. But because it's Rinaldo, it will be labeled a disgraceful cheap shot by an ignoble ice-rat who deserves to join Raffi Torres in timeout for half the season.

Most of the time with Rinaldo there wouldn't be a debate, but take a closer look at the hit and you'll see that it rates about a 4 out of 10 on the Rinaldo Scum Meter.

The hit is a bit high, as Rinaldo's shoulder lands close to Courturier's chin area. It definitely deserved a charging penalty. Rinaldo received a five-minute charging major and game misconduct for the hit.

But upon closer look, Rinaldo's hit is all shoulder. He mostly hits Courturier in the chest area, and it's debatable whether he left his feet before he made contact. But his skates clearly go at least an inch off the ice, Courturier was somewhat defenseless, and was injured on the play - and all of that will probably be enough to warrant a suspension.

Here's a GIF of the hit, in case the above YouTube clip doesn't work:

Rinaldo said after the game that he wasn't trying to injure former teammate and friend Couturier, and I believe him: "It's unfortunate that he's hurt. That's the last thing that I want to do is to hurt someone, and during the game that's not my first priority at all, especially someone that I know personally. So that was the last thing on my mind was to hurt him." But the problem isn't that he had malicious intent, it's that this playing style is his instinct in the first place.

But take Rinaldo's reputation (which, make no mistake, is well-deserved) out of it and how do you look at this hit? If that was Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci delivering that hit, what's the penalty? Probably a charging minor, at most. But Rinaldo doesn't get the benefit of the doubt here, nor does he deserve it.

This discussion was inevitably going to come up. And believe me, I'm not advocating for hits like this. Rinaldo's violent style of play should be eradicated from the NHL, and that's why the league will likely make an example of him for this hit, as they did with Torres. Clearly, he needs to hit further from the head and keep his skates on the ice. But it's a little surprising that this is the hit that launches the debate.

Rinaldo's hit wasn't totally clean, but it wasn't overly vicious either. He has committed much more egregious acts in his career to earn his reputation. So if this is the hit that sparks outrage over Rinaldo's style of play, maybe it is for the best to get him out of the league. Because he's capable of doing something far worse than this.

Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read more from Matt here. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.

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