If the Winnipeg Jets didn’t know who Ridly Greig was before Sunday night’s preseason opener, they certainly do now.
Even though his night lasted all of 8:17, the 19-year old was in the middle of everything against the Jets.
His night started with a highlight reel goal and ended with a cross-check to the fact of Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.
That cross-check, which was pretty clearly in self-defence and in no way malicious, has earned Greig a two-game suspension. According to the punishment handed down on Monday afternoon, Greig has to sit one preseason game and one regular season game.
Greig is going to be an interesting player to watch the rest of Training Camp. He’s obviously a long-shot to make the team but the fact that he can’t be sent to the AHL means they might be tempted to keep him around a bit longer than expected before returning him to Junior.
On a team that is stacked with young talent, Greig has a tendency to get lost in the shuffle a little bit but based on those seven games in Belleville and his preseason debut, he may not be that far off.
Depending on how the rest of Camp plays out, a nine-game look might be a good way to give Greig a taste of the NHL before he returns to Brandon. He’s also got the World Juniors in December to look forward to.
We’ll see which group Greig is skating with when the Senators return to the ice at 9:00 AM this morning.
