The collapse of an NHL star says a lot about the stale culture of the series

Harri Hepojärvi

Morgan Rielly is a product of an old-fashioned system, writes Harri Hepojärvi.

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Morgan Rielly carried out a retaliatory measure, as per the age-old code of the NHL. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS

– “Rids'” trick was funny, Shane Pinto laughed after the game.

The vast majority of young puck fans must have agreed when Ottawa’s Ridly Greig, 21, completed a 5-3 victory with empty nets against Toronto.

On the other hand, in the camp of NHL puritans and Toronto, the shot was seen as a cheeky trick, because it broke the “code”, according to which you shouldn’t shoot too hard into the void.

So Toronto star forward Morgan Rielly, 29, decided to hit Greig in the head with a cross stick right after the goal, with five seconds left in the game.

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– Their player was allowed to do what he wanted, and our players had the right to react to it, Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe commented on Rielly’s outburst after the game.

Kouts’ statement says a lot about the stale culture of the NHL, of which Rielly is a product. He just followed the age-old “blank target” code, which no longer makes any sense.

The NHL is an entertainment business where spectators should be offered circus entertainment. That’s what Greig’s overpowering shot was, as was the air move, which was previously perceived as humiliating the opponent.

If an air curler is an acceptable way to score a goal today, why not an empty shot?

– It shouldn’t matter whether you push the puck into the goal or shoot it there, Ottawa coach Jacques Martin, 71, summed up the uproar.

Now it will be interesting to see how stale the NHL’s disciplinary department is under the leadership of George Parros: will Rielly get the first suspension of his NHL career for cheating, or will the star pack get away without punishment because he only acted according to the “code”?

If Rielly gets a proper cake from his pig’s ear, the NHL culture might in the best case develop so that in the future the puck can be folded into the blanks in whatever style he wants.