Tom Gilbert Suspended Three Games

The NHL has suspended Los Angeles Kings defenseman Tom Gilbert for three games for a boarding incident with Anaheim’s Nick Ritchie, the Department of Player Safety announced.  He will be eligible to return to the lineup on November 10th against his former team, the Montreal Canadiens.

The incident occurred in the second period of the Kings’ game against the Ducks on Tuesday night.  No penalty had been originally assessed on the play.  As a result of the suspension, Gilbert will forfeit a little over $23K in salary.  As a non-repeat offender, he loses 3/180 of his pay for the season; had he been a repeat offender, he would have lost 3/82 of his salary, or a little over $50K.

This suspension certainly does little to help the cap woes that Los Angeles is currently experiencing.  The team recalled Kevin Gravel earlier on Thursday but that was to take the place of Brayden McNabb who is currently on injured reserve.  While most teams like to have a seventh blueliner available, the Kings aren’t in a position to bring one up pending any further roster moves as they have just over $360K in cap space at the moment as per Cap Friendly.  They also aren’t afforded the ability to move Gilbert off the active roster while he’s under suspension and Gravel is the only waiver-exempt skater on the roster at the moment.  Accordingly, a thin back end is going to stay that way for the next three games.