TORONTO -- Maple Leafs forward Mark Bell was suspended indefinitely without pay by the NHL on Tuesday after his plea last month of no contest to drunken-driving and hit-and-run charges.

Bell was placed into Stage 2 of the NHL's substance abuse program. He has been part of Stage 1 since last September, when he was arrested in California.

"I'm not running away from the mistakes I made," Bell told reporters. "I'm meeting it head on, taking the steps necessary to make it better, and learning from the mistakes that I made.

"Sometimes you think everything is going great and your life takes a turn for the worst. You deal with it and move ahead. Things happen for a reason, and this happened to me for a reason and I'm moving ahead in a positive manner."

To be reinstated, the 27-year-old will need approval from the NHL and the league's players' union after consultation with program doctors.

"He's been under good care, he's fully complied with all of the testing through the year," said Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson. "It's my understanding that the Stage 2 process is related ... to the plea arrangement."

Bell will serve six months in a California jail at the end of next season.

Toronto opens training camp Sept. 13. Program doctors will determine the training camp activities in which he may participate.

Bell was arrested after his sedan rear-ended a pickup truck in Milpitas, Calif., in the San Jose foothills.

The Maple Leafs acquired Bell in June along with goaltender Vesa Toskala in a trade with the San Jose Sharks.

"Mark has done absolutely everything asked of him," said Bell's agent, Larry Kelly. "He's cooperated in every way. I think he's really benefited from the program to date."