Ryan Leonard took a double minor tonight for swinging his stick at Cody Glass's head, and a suspension looks likely.
It happened in the Capitals and Devils game, which is still being played as this goes up, with the third period winding down. The score isn't something we'll guess at, but the penalty is already the story of the night.
Leonard is a 21-year-old right winger who was the eighth overall pick in 2023. He has 6 goals and 6 assists in 17 games this season, and three of those goals came on the power play. He's a player the Capitals lean on, which makes this worse for them.
Glass is a 27-year-old center for New Jersey, picked sixth overall in 2017. He has 2 goals and 3 assists in 20 games this season, and one of his goals was short-handed. He isn't listed with any injury on the latest report.
A double minor means four minutes in the box, and that is the least of Washington's concerns. Swinging a stick at an opponent's head is the kind of act the league tends to look at closely. Four minutes doesn't cover it.
-
There's also history here. These two teams played Thursday in New Jersey, and the Devils won 5-2. Tempers on the second night of a mini-series aren't hard to understand, but a stick aimed at a head goes well beyond a heated game.
How many games could Leonard miss?
No ruling has come down, and no hearing has been announced. Whatever the league decides, it will land right as the Capitals head into a road game at Tampa Bay on Tuesday, November 17.
Leonard isn't a repeat offender in any big way. He has 10 penalty minutes this season and 68 across 101 career games. A clean-ish record can soften a punishment, but it shouldn't erase it, and he should sit for this.
The Devils are 14-6-0 and the Capitals are 10-7-0, so every point matters to both sides in the Metropolitan Division. Losing a top-six winger for any stretch hurts Washington's lineup. New Jersey, for its part, plays Montreal on Wednesday, November 18, and will want to know how Glass is doing.
Whether the league calls it quickly or waits is the next thing to watch, with Tuesday's puck drop in Tampa as the first real deadline.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
How many games should Ryan Leonard be suspended for?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Toronto Maple Leafs dangle two players on the trade market
