Carcillo ban down to six
LOS ANGELES — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reduced Rangers forward Dan Carcillo’s suspension from 10 games to six in a 12-page opinion released Tuesday morning. Carcillo will be available to play beginning in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Los Angeles Kings.
Carcillo originally was suspended 10 games for elbowing Scott Driscoll in the head while trying to free himself from the linesman’s grasp during a post-whistle scrum in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final against the Montreal Canadiens at the Garden.
“I respect the league’s decision,” Carcillo said. “Gary (Bettman) called me this morning and dropped (the suspension) a category down, which is what I felt should have happened. The bottom line is, it was an emotional time in the game and I’m an emotional player. Sometimes you cross that line. Obviously — whether it was an accident or not — you can’t hit an official. I know I was wrong and I apologized and owned up to my part of it. Like I said before, I respect the league’s decision.” Bettman listened to testimony from Carcillo, Rangers assistant GM Jim Schoenfeld and Driscoll last Friday in New York and concluded that he agreed with a clause in Rule 40.4: Carcillo had applied deliberate contact with an official “solely for the purpose of getting free of such an official during or immediately following an altercation.” Bettman also took into account that both Carcillo and Driscoll described that they had a “professional relationship,” so there was no history of bad blood between the two. Interestingly, though, the commissioner admitted he would have been less likely to reduce the suspension to six games if it hadn’t affected the Stanley Cup Final. “While there is no precise formula that places a ‘premium’ on playoff games, I note that the length of the suspension here might well have been longer had it involved regularseason games,” Bettman wrote.
OF CAPS & CAPTAINS
In the past year, Brad Richards has gone from a healthy playoff scratch last season to the de facto captain of the Rangers, but he still remains a potential buyout candidate in the offseason.
Glen Sather bypassed the chance to cut Richards loose last summer, but that possibility remains even though the Ranger GM spoke highly of the veteran on Tuesday.
“He’s been terrific. I mean, he’s acting as the captain right now. He’s certainly a leader in the room. He’s been a leader on the ice. Great guy,” Sather said. “I mean, if we win the Stanley Cup, if we lose the Stanley Cup, I think the decision is something that comes later on in the summer.”
Richards, who has five goals and six assists in 20 playoff games entering the Stanley Cup Final, is signed at a $6.7 million cap hit through 2020.
But the possibility of the 34-year-old retiring before the end of his contract is the primary reason Sather would consider buying him out this summer. The NHL’s new “cap recapture” clause penalizes teams for the benefits they draw from a player’s long- term contract when he retires prematurely, even if traded.
“I’ve thought about it a lot. But it’s not something that we’re thinking about right now,” Sather said. “We’re focused on what we’re doing, what the team is doing, how we’re going to play, who we’re playing against. Certainly haven’t thought much about it lately.”
BLACK AND BLUESHIRTS
Rangers backup goalie Cam Talbot (undisclosed injury) didn’t practice for the third straight day, and could be replaced in the Game 1 lineup by Hartford’s David LeNeveu. . . . J.T. Miller (shoulder) practiced and said “if I'm called upon, I’ll be ready.”
MOORE RECOGNITION
John Moore, suspended for Game 1, on how New York has reacted to the Rangers’ run: “It’s pretty cool. You’re rockin’ the playoff beards in Rounds 1 and 2 and you look like any old hipster, but I guess now we’re recognized a little more. It’s fun. But I’m glad I don’t have to pay top dollar for tickets.”