The Leafs seem to have used Rielly's suspension as a rallying point have played their best stretch of hockey this season in the games since. So why are we still talking about it? Because, it was BS when it happened and regardless of what's happened on the ice since, it's still BS.
The Department of Player Safety absolutely has a bias against the Leafs. Worse yet, Rielly's failed appeal hearing with Gary Bettman only proved that the bias goes all the way to the top of the NHL. An incident between the Devils and Rangers last night served as further proof of this.
As of this writing, there has been no announcement from George Parros' DoPS regarding the hit by Matthew Rempe of the New York Rangers on Devils forward Nathan Bastian last night. One doesn't appear to be coming either, according to Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli. Rempe was given a match penalty on the play, and that appears to be all he will receive.
How is it that a rookie player can make violent head contact with his elbow on an opponent and not even get a slap on the wrist while Morgan Rielly, a well respected veteran with no history and who previously had a legitimate shot at the Lady Byng trophy gets 5 games? Rempe's hit was far more dangerous and far more likely to cause a traumatic brain injury than Rielly's cross-check, which rode up off Greig's shoulder. There's no question.
Arguments can be made about the situations being different, sure, but at the end of the day, it's called the Department of Player Safety, not the Department of Semantics. You cannot, in good conscience, tell me that Rielly's cross-check was five times more dangerous than Rempe's hit. It wasn't even close, and George Parros and his good buddy Gary Bettman both know it.
