So the hockey world is all a buzz with Ridley Greig’s slapper into an empty net and the response by Leaf’s Morgan Reilly with a cross check to Greig’s head.
First off there is no rule that says you have to just slide the puck in the net. You can take this code crap and flush it. It is long gone. You will be seeing more of this, just think back about the uproar about the Michigan move. If you have a PVR of the game take a look at what happens around the 16:00 minute mark. Reilly cross checks Greig very high on the shoulder just inside the blue-line . Then in front of the net give Matthews and McCabe give him a couple of other good shots high on the back knocking him down. Good for Greig to keep his cool .Coach Martin put Tarasenko, Pinto, and Greig out for the last 90 seconds of the game because they were playing so well. Pinto won key face offs to slow down the Leafs attack and Greig maintained his focus in the final 90 minutes and executed his role very well. Those three guys managed the chaos in-spite of three bad plays by Thomas Chabot and they ended up scoring the winning goal.You would not have seen that twenty games ago.
The question now is what is in store for Morgan Reilly as the league plays Spin The Wheel of Justice! My guess is five to six games. Very similar to the David Perron who got six games. However, it is the Leafs so do not be surprised if it is less.
As for Coach Sheldon Keefe, the clock is ticking. IMO GM Brad Treeliving will release him, because he has taken this group as far as he can. You have to look no further than what the LA Kings did by releasing their Coach over the All Star break. If he does not do it, then they will be a first round exit. This is a group of entitled players who validate their contracts with regular season play, but do not understand you validate your career in April, May and June. The top five players all have no moves in their contracts, so the only thing to shock them is to release the Coach.
As for last night what Greig did was in the grey area by hockey “code” standards, but sometimes you need to look beyond and observe why things happen.
Until next time!
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Between The Ears 