NEW YORK (AP) -Maple Leafs forward Mark Bell was suspended for 15 games without pay Wednesday by the NHL after his plea last month of no contest to drunken driving and hit-and-run charges.
“Playing in the National Hockey League is a privilege, and with that privilege comes a corresponding responsibility for exemplary conduct off the ice as well as on it,” commissioner Gary Bettman said.
Bell is in Stage 2 of the NHL’s substance abuse program. He was suspended indefinitely Sept. 4, and the suspension will start once he’s cleared to return by the program’s doctors.
The doctors also will determine what, if any, activities Bell can participate in when Toronto opens training camp Thursday.
Bell was arrested in September 2006 after his sedan rear-ended a pickup truck in Milpitas, Calif., in the San Jose foothills.
Bell is expected to serve six months in a California jail, beginning after this season. Santa Clara County prosecutor Cindy Seeley Hendrickson said Bell could complete the sentence over the next two offseasons under the agreement, which has yet to be entered in court.
The Maple Leafs acquired Bell in June along with goaltender Vesa Toskala in a trade with the San Jose Sharks.
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