NHL enforcer Ryan Reaves signed a three-year, $4.05 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs this offseason. The Leafs are seeking to become a harder team to play against in the playoffs, so they picked up Reaves, who famously sat in the press box and watched his Vegas Golden Knights team lose the 2018 Stanley Cup Final to the Washington Capitals.

The Leafs were eliminated in the second round of last year’s postseason in five games by the Florida Panthers. In their final loss, Nick Cousins beat netminder Joseph Woll, who was being screened by Radko Gudas, to send Florida to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Gudas famously celebrated directly in Woll’s face after the puck went in. Reaves responded to that celebration and in typical Reaves form, lightly threatened Gudas in the process.

Ryan Reaves, who says he’ll be a loud presence in the room, was asked about what he can do on the ice. And asked about preventing incidents like this: “I’d like to see him try it. It would be fun” pic.twitter.com/lE1rtYtYBM

— David Alter (@dalter) September 18, 2023

The full quote comes from Reaves’ media availability at the Toronto’s annual golf tournament on Monday.

“Oh, I hope [Gudas] tries that,” Reaves said. “I think it’d be interesting, it would be fun. I doubt there’s going to be any of that here.”

Reaves has long been a big talker in the media about his ability to stymie other teams’ more physical players. He once reportedly claimed to a team that he was “the solution to your Tom Wilson problem”.

The big winger was acquired by the New York Rangers after Wilson’s Horrifying Act of Violence game, but never ended up fighting Wilson before being dealt out of The Big Apple to the Minnesota Wild last November.

Reaves’ signing was just one of a few that Toronto made to try and make their lineup more battle-tested and ready for the grind that is an NHL playoffs. New Leafs general manager Brad Treliving also brought in noted pests Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi in unrestricted free agency.

“They both have a lot of skill, too,” Reaves added. “But maybe something this team has been missing is a little bit of grit and I think those guys fit the mood of what we need here. They’re exactly what was needed, for sure.”

The Leafs are the latest team to add Reaves to their roster to try and help them take another step in the playoffs despite Reaves never having won a Stanley Cup. In fact, he has been suspended as many playoff games (3) as he has scored playoff goals in his 13-year career. In 108 total career playoff games, Reaves has tallied just eight points (3g, 5a) while also serving a whopping 114 penalty minutes.

By comparison, Tom Wilson has won a Stanley Cup and tallied 15 points (5g, 10a) alone during that successful 2018 postseason.

Screenshot via Toronto Maple Leafs/YouTube