In defense of Zac Rinaldo (kind of)

Zac Rinaldo is a sword with two edges and this weekend very much illustrated this. On Saturday the Flyers played the Bruins, who have been a thorn in the side of the Flyers ever since the Flyers beat them in that miraculous 4-3 comeback in 2010. Rinaldo leveled Milan Lucic on a clean hit in the opening minutes, mirroring a scene from the previous game just a week earlier in which Rinaldo smashed Jarome Iginla, then had to fight him as Iggy was kind of pissed about it. This time Rinaldo kept his gloves on while Lucic did not, and Lucic ended up taking the only penalty on the incident.

Unfortunately the Flyers and their lately frigid power play failed to take advantage of that advantage. The game then became somewhat stale-matey as the Flyers hung with the Bruins for the first 40 minutes. However, they got absolutely destroyed in the 3rd period and lost 5-2. Not a good showing and Lucic got the last laugh with two goals in the game.

The very next day the Flyers played the Sabres at home. Rinaldo for his part took advantage of his recently increased ice time, skating with Matt Read and Sean Couturier on the 3rd line, by scoring a goal. With Jay Rosehill scoring against the Bruins and The Undertaker losing at Wrestlemania some people see it as a sign of the apocalypse. Other people were just happy he found some success, particularly his little brother, who is just adorable.

However, then Zac had to go ahead and lose all the trust and respect he recently earned by hitting Sabres rookie defenseman Chad Ruhwedel in the head.

This was not a good hit. It was a direct contact with the head and no body contact at all. Rinaldo also appears to leap into the hit. He is also a repeat offender from an incident in 2012, in which the suspension was also rather warranted. Also, Ruhwedel suffered a concussion from the hit. Combine all these facts together and Rinaldo is staring at a lengthy suspension at the hands of the Department of Player Safety in the immediate future.

So let me get this out of the way first, I am not going to defend the hit because there is nothing to defend. To bring out the cliche, it is the kind of hit the NHL is attempting to legislate out of the game, and I am pretty okay with that. Players make mistakes and will have to suffer the consequences for them.

What I will try to defend is Zac Rinaldo, the player.

Immediately following the hit and the reporting on it, the crow calls came. The peanut gallery on various hockey sites were condemning the hit (which is correct) and questioning why Rinaldo is even in the NHL (which is not).

That Rinaldo has a reputation problem is almost an understatement, tracing way back to his days in the OHL and before that. He has pretty much always been a mucker and a hitter, just as he is now. He was never a scoring threat or anything like that. He is a pest who makes his living by putting the fear into people and giving them bruises from big hits. It is a fine line he plays on, a fact that he is aware of, and for 99% of the time he stays on the right side of that line. But with playing on that line also comes stepping over it on occasion, either by mistake or intent, and suffering the consequences. A price he is willing to pay. However, that hardly warrants the label of "dirty" being placed on him.

From what I can tell out of interviews and how he presents himself in documentary scenes like on 24/7 Road to the Winter Classic, he is also an earnest person who accepts his role on the team and does what he can to advance it. He also has something child-like in him, like a kid in a candy store, casting him in a bit of a locker-room-guy role as his enthusiasm appears to be quite infectious.

What I do not get is how other people can not see or appreciate this fact. For the most part it just has to be the desire of vengeance. Rinaldo is the type of player who goes under the skin of his opponents, both those on the ice and the fans thereof. Nobody likes to be hit, and Rinaldo hits hard and often. To roll on another cliche: He's the kind of player you like to have on your team, but hate when he's on the opposing one.

And therein lies the core of the problem, familiarity. Even his biggest detractors must have had a similar player on their team at one time or another if they don't do now. Teams need these kinds of players as they bring some raw energy to the table, and the fans of the teams often love those little balls of enthusiasm. It is of course on the team to make use of this energy, to form it into something useful and valuable, rather than leaving it dormant or having it explode in their face.

Perhaps another current Flyer is a poster boy for this, Steve Downie. Downie is somewhat of a more talented version of Rinaldo, a mucker and a hitter but with a bit more of a scoring touch. He too was troubled by a bad reputation coming out of juniors, and his energy exploded into senseless destruction when he hit Dean McArmond in preseason all those years ago. However, after he was traded to Tampa and under the guidance of figures like Rick Tocchet (who would be another player in a similar vein) formed a very nice NHL career for himself.

Watching Rinaldo has given me a bit more of appreciating for other players of his type on other teams, even if I despise them for the moment. As Jeff Marek like to say, even the worst player in the NHL is miles ahead of any average Joe from the street in terms of hockey skill, even the streets in Canada. Players like Zac Rinaldo are contributing something to their team and are far more skilled than people give them credit for, so even if they cross a line and make a mistake, I think it's just entirely unfair to immediately call for their dismissal from the league. It would also be hypocritical to condemn players to it when the same kind of player with the same types of plays would rouse excitement if he was on your own team.

What my worry is though is that other people can't see through this, including Brendan Shanahan and the Department of Player Safety. They seem to go a lot harsher on low-level players like Rinaldo than on players with a larger profile on the score sheet. That being said the hit does definitely warrant a suspension, though I hope it isn't primarily based on Rinaldo's embellished reputation but rather on the action itself.