Final nail in the Ryan Reaves’ coffin in Toronto!

Since the start of the season, all eyes have been on Toronto Maple Leafs veteran forward Ryan Reaves as fans keep wondering why he has yet to fight this year. Not that I want to promote more fighting in the NHL, but for years, Reaves has made it clear that his role is to be an enforcer. Right now, he’s an enforcer who has yet to fight.

To make things worse for what the future holds for Reaves in Toronto, what happened on Sunday when Philadelphia Flyers’ Garnet Hathaway bumped into goaltender Dennis Hildeby and defenseman Jake McCabe ended up fighting and getting injured during the bout isn’t helping. Sure, Reaves was not in the lineup then, but once he was inserted back in for the rematch with the Flyers on Tuesday, he didn’t do anything! I mean the Leafs lost a key member of the team with McCabe out, and that does not even prompt Reaves to do his part!

As Michael Amato of Sportsnet writes:

“Reaves was inserted into the lineup for the rematch with the Flyers on Tuesday, where one assumed a scrap with Hathaway would be inevitable. Nothing materialized, though, other than a brief verbal exchange between Reaves and Hathaway near the benches. This is the other issue with Reaves’ role: he’s reliant on someone from the opposition to oblige him for a fight. There are very few Ryan Reaves’ left in the NHL at this point and he doesn’t have many counterparts around to square off with.”

When the Maple Leafs signed Reaves to a surprising three-year deal in 2023, with a cap hit of $1,350,000 per season, it was expected that he knew his role and would a great addition to the fourth line. He hasn’t proven his worth and honestly, Toronto could use his cap more effectively. Especially if he won’t fight when his teammates and fans expect him to.

Reaves has been a healthy scratch several times this season, though he has been part of the lineup for the past few games. In 22 games however, he has put up just two assists and a -1 rating, but most surprisingly just two penalty minutes.

It’s pretty sad when you have one job and you fail to do it. Amato concludes:

“It’s going to become increasingly challenging to insert Reaves into the lineup, even for a coach like Craig Berube, who scratched and clawed his way to 1,000 games in this league playing a similar role to Reaves. In today’s NHL, every player’s performance has to justify their salary and the percentage of the cap they occupy, and there really isn’t an argument with enough merit to make for Reaves.”