Ryan Reaves returns from suspension and snaps back at Darnell Nurse today

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves is ready to re-join the team tomorrow evening when they take on the struggling Nashville Predators.

Reaves has now served his five game suspension for an illegal head check on Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and joined the Leafs for practice today in Toronto. 

After practice Reaves was asked about the hit and specifically for the reaction from Darnell Nurse who accused Reaves of 'only trying to inflict pain' on his opponents.

Reavo's assessment: 'Yeah, pretty much."

Here's Reaves in his own words:

"That's a fact and that's not gonna stop."

How's that for bulletin board material?

Read below for our earlier reports on this story, published as events occurred.

Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse joined his team for practice today for the first time since suffering a devastating hit by Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves this past weekend.

He spoke to the media after practice and informed fans of his status moving forward.

"I feel good," Nurse told the media. "With these things, timelines are up to multiple people, and what I feel isn't always indicative of what's going to happen, so we'll see."

Nurse also made it clear that he and Reaves both share some responsibility in the result of the hit, but also that Reaves should know better than to target a players' head.

"There is some onus on the player with the puck to be aware of where everyone is on the ice," Nurse said. "With that said, even if you put yourself in a bad spot there is a lot of body on a 6'4" hockey player to hit and not one piece was touched other than my head." 

He's expected to sit out for the team's next two games and to return to action next Friday for their game against Utah HC.

Read below for our earlier report on the hit, published by Hockey Feed staff writer Jonathan Larrivee as events occurred.

There was a great deal of concern regarding the health of Edmonton Oilers defenseman after a brutal hit from Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves over the weekend, but it sounds like Nurse is going to be relatively O.K. all things considered.

On Monday, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was able to provide an official update on the injured Oilers defenseman and it sounds like pretty good news given just how bad things looked on Saturday night. According to Knoblauch, Nurse is expected to be sidelined for the next 5 to 10 days, which again isn't so bad given the context.

Nurse appeared to be almost knocked out after he was struck in the head by Reaves who came into the hit with a full head of steam, and the situation only got worse from there when he fell to the ice. Nurse's head and face smashed into the ice with a sickening bounce, and that may very well have played a big role in all the damage we saw to his face after the fact.

Nurse was leaking all over the ice, his face, and his visor and, even after the trainers did their best to clean him up, he still looked like a complete mess as he was helped off the ice by members of the Oilers training staff as well as his teammates.

Reaves was of course awarded a massive suspension by the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety as a result of his actions and will be ineligible to return to the lineup until next month, which could very well mean that we will see Nurse back in the lineup for the Oilers before Reaves returns to the Maple Leafs.