Sheldon Keefe Makes Controversial Statement About Brad Marchand After Impact With Knies

Early in the game, Leafs rookie Matthew Knies was involved in a scary collision with Bruins captain Brad Marchand. The 21-year-old seemed to get the worse of it as Marchand was hardly phased. However, the play sent Knies to the Leafs locker room, where he would remain for the rest of the game.

The status of the rookie forward was one of many topics that head coach Sheldon Keefe addressed following the 4-1 loss on home ice. What exactly he had to say about the play raised some eyebrows.

Keefe elected not to blame Marchand for the injury to Knies. He noted that the play was not intentional as neither player noticed each other until it was too late. Marchand saw the collision coming earlier though so he had more time to prepare for impact. The coach believes this is why Knies got the worse end of the stick.

Perhaps more importantly, he also addressed the rookie's status. Unfortunately though, he could not give us an update.

However, other reports have already come out indicating that Knies is unlikely to miss significant time. He was supposedly held out of the remainder of the game simply as a precaution.

As seen on Sheldon Keefe makes surprising comments about Brad Marchand's collision with Matthew Knies