Ryan Reaves in Morgan Rielly’s corner, gets his digs at Ridley Greig

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Morgan Rielly could use Ryan Reaves as his expert defence witness in Tuesday’s hearing in New York.

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While it looks like a suspension in the five-to-six game range is unavoidable, Reaves was the most vocal Maple Leaf in Rielly’s corner after Monday’s practice. The team has not made Rielly available to media since Saturday’s blow-up in Ottawa when the defenceman cross checked Ridly Greig of the Senators for a show boat slap shot into the empty Toronto net to seal the Sens’ 5-3 win.

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“I went right up to Mo and said ‘you did your job’ and I’d expect that of anyone on the ice,” said Reaves, a veteran of nearly 1,000 NHL games.

“If you re-wind to when I came in the league (the 21-year-old Greig) is probably still laying on the ice, to be honest.

“I thought it was appropriate (Reaves echoed coach Sheldon Keefe’s line from Saturday) and I don’t see how a kid that young thinks it’s (cool) to do something like that. Good on Mo, hopfeully (the department of player safety) is not too harsh on him.”

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Reaves, who plays the rogue’s role and has been suspended himself, was shocked Rielly’s case is going all the way to an in-person hearing. Rielly has never been on the league carpet.

“I thought it was going to be a fine, maybe one game maximum,” Reaves said. “The kid got up after he saw no one was on top of him anymore, completely fine (and skating Monday). I think that has to be taken into account, too. But again, I come from a different era. The other kid might have got a call and (been told) smarten up.”

Reaves thought Greig would know enough about the ‘code’, tradition or whatever you want to call it, not to rub a team’s nose in it after an emotional loss. Thus, Reaves saw nothing wrong with Rielly getting overtly physical when he could have just bumped him or challenged him to fight.

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“A guy takes a clapper into our net and you’re going to play patty-cake with him? There has to be a message sent and a push is not a message. Make hockey violent again, I’ll get that tattoed on me.

“The codes change a little bit, the game changes a lot and it’s unfortunate that a young kid like that gets away with it and one of our players is suspended for it.”

While John Tavares, Mark Giordano, Auston Matthews and William Nylander couldn’t recall seeing anything like Greig’s exclamation mark versus just tucking the puck in the empty cage, Reaves thought he must have seen at least one instance in his time. But he could guess what happened next.

“The reaction was probably much more severe, probably no penalties were handed out and everyone went on their way and played the next game.”

But just when the flame was re-lit in the Battle of Ontario, there’s little chance these two teams meet until next September’s annual exhibition games. Expect the Leafs to have long memories.

“Hopefully one day I’ll be on a breakaway, I can take a clapper into their net and we’ll see what the repercussions are,” Reaves said. “I’d probably have an in-person hearing, too.”

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