The National Hockey League(NHL) is a professional Ice Hockey League in North America that comprises 31 teams in total including 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is also considered the premier professional Ice Hockey League in the world. You might love hockey because of great history, the skillful players, or for the vigorous fights. There are many people in the history of the NHL who are suspended for several reasons. Do you want to know the recent NHL suspensions and the longest NHL suspensions? Here is a list of players with the most NHL suspensions.
Players with the most suspensions in the NHL history
- Billy Coutu is a Canadian ice hockey defenseman In the National Hockey League(NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, the Hamilton Tigers, and the Boston Bruins. In Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1927, Billy Coutu started a bench-clearing brawl and physically assaulted referee Jerry Laflamme and tried to tackle referee Billy Bell. As a result, he was banned from playing NHL for life. He is the only player to be expelled from the NHL for life. It is the longest suspension in NHL history to date. Though his suspension was lifted 5 years later, he never played in an NFL match after the suspension.
- Raphael Torres is a Canadian Ice Hockey left winger who played in the NHL for teams like New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, and San Jose Sharks. He was suspended 5 times for hitting the opponent’s head, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals, he received the fourth-longest suspension(25 games suspension) in NFL history for hitting the head of Marian Hossa, a former professional ice hockey right-winger. Again in October 2015, Raphael Torres was suspended for 41 games as a result of hitting Jakob Silfverberg, a Swedish professional ice hockey player. This is considered the longest suspension is given to any NHL player for a hit on another player. Later, on November 5, 2016, he officially announced his retirement from hockey.
- Christopher J. Simon is a former Candian ice hockey player. He played in 15 seasons in the NHL. He was involved in several brawls during his ice hockey career and has been suspended eight times for a total of 65 games. In March 2007, while he was playing for the New York Islanders, he was suspended for the rest of the season for hitting the face of Ryan Hollweg. On December 19, 2007, he stepped on the foot of Jarkko Ruutu of Pittsburgh Penguin.
- Marty McSorley played in the National Hockey League(NHL) from 1983 to 2000. He was also a former head coach of the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League from 2002 to 2004. He was also an actor who played in several movies and TV roles. On February 21, 2000, in a match between the Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks, McSorley hit Donald Brashear with his stick. Brashear immediately fell backward and hit his head hard on the ice. He lost his consciousness and was suffering from Grade III concussion. He was immediately suspended by the NHL from 1999- 2000, missing 23 games. He was found guilty and was sentenced to 18 months of probation. Later, his suspension was extended another year through February 2001. He also attempted to play Hockey with the London Knights but the International Ice Hockey Federation blocked his action.
- Dale Hunter is a Canadian former ice hockey player and the former head coach of the Washington Capitals in NHL. In 1993, in the Game 6 in the Patrick Division Semifinals between the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders, Pierre Turgeon stole the puck from Dale Hunter and scored. This led to the sudden attack of Hunter on Turgeon. He was suspended for 21 games for hitting Pierre Turgeon of the New York Islanders. Years later, Hunter admitted that he had gone too far. It is the longest hockey suspension in league history for an on-ice incident, in terms of the number of missed matches.
- Todd Bertuzzi is a former ice hockey player who has played in the NHL for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Calgary Flames. In a match in 2004, Bertuzzi followed Steve Moore provoking him for a fight. Though Moore ignored him, Bertuzzi punched him in the side of the face, Moore fell down with his face hitting the ice. For this incident, Bertuzzi was charged a match penalty and removed from the game. Later, when Moore was taken to the hospital, he was treated for three fractures in his neck, grade 3 concussion, and amnesia. Two days after the incident, Bertuzzi apologized to Moore, his family, Burke, his teammates, and also to his fans.