Former first round pick forced to sit on the bench all night, and now we know why.

This is certainly one way to send a message to a young player.

While many coaches will merely scratch players from their line up in order to send a message, on Tuesday night Buffalo Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma went the extra mile.

During the course of tonight's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Sabres forward Sam Reinhart began to draw attention. It wasn't for his play on the ice though, but rather because of the fact that he never left the bench once. 

After the game Byslma admitted that he had made the decision to dress Reinhart and sit out on the entire game on the bench as a measure of punishment. 

"Sam violated a team policy and the discipline was not playing him in tonight's game."

This works two-fold. The remaining players will be forced to play a man down making their jobs more difficult, and their frustration in that regard is likely to be channeled towards Reinhart. Secondly it serves as a rather public and embarrassing flogging for Reinhart himself.

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