Leafs Coach Craig Berube Shares Update on Matthew Knies, Does His Best to Avoid $25,000 Fine
Leafs coach Craig Berube's comments following Zach Whitecloud's head shot on Matthew Knies show a coach walking on egg shells to avoid a $25,000 fine.
Midway through the second period of Wednesday's game between the Maple Leafs and the Golden Knights, Matthew Knies was carrying the puck through the neutral zone when he ended up on the receiving end of a questionable hit from Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud.
Whitecloud was initially issued a major for an illegal check to the head, but after review, the penalty was rescinded, and he only received two minutes for roughing for his dust-up with Simon Benoit. Somehow, the Leafs ended up on the penalty kill as Benoit got four minutes for roughing after jumping in to defend Knies.
Knies struggled to get to his feet and was clearly in some distress. After slowly making his way to the Leafs' bench, he immediately headed down to the locker room and did not return to the game.
Following the game, Craig Berube was asked about the hit, and it was clear from his comments that he was doing his best to avoid a fine for criticizing the league.
Before commenting on the hit, Berube provided an update on Knies' health stating that it was an upper-body injury and that he would be re-evaluated on Thursday.
Already without Auston Matthews, Calle Jarnkrok, Max Pacioretty and David Kampf, who had to be moved to LTIR to create cap space to recall rookie Nikita Grebenkin, the Leafs are in a tough spot, where their depth is really being tested.
The Leafs are also missing Ryan Reaves, who was suspended for a similar hit on Saturday. Now, the Leafs will be forced to rely on the likes of Grebenkin, Fraser Minten and Alex Steeves for what appears to be much longer than they had originally planned.
With the Leafs off until Sunday when they host the Utah Hockey Club, the next few days will be critical for Knies as many are hopeful his removal from the game was more precautionary than anything else. Knies was off to a fantastic start in his sophomore season with 8 goals and 12 points in 20 games thus far.
