The Toronto Maple Leafs will host the red-hot Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, and they’ll be doing it without Ryan Reaves. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told the press today that Bobby McMann will play in Reaves’ stead.
The scratching comes after weeks of disappointing play from the 36-year-old enforcer.
Reaves has zero goals and zero assists this season. The Leafs have scored no goals while he’s on the ice, and been out-chanced 27 to 11 in high-danger situations. Reaves’ plus/minus is minus-11, third worst among all NHL players except those who play for the Sharks. His goals-above-replacement (GAR) score from Evolving Hockey is minus-3, worse than all but eleven players (don’t look at who is one and two).
Off the ice, Reaves’ impact had been raved about. In a fawning story last month, Sportsnet praised the following from Reaves:
- flexing his biceps during his introduction
- encouraging a rookie lap by Matthew Knies
- squirting a water bottle at Max Domi during an interview
- programming the team’s pregame playlist
- changing the team’s goal song
Reaves owes much of his 14-season career to those intangibles. His teams have been outscored 248 to 207 while he’s on the ice, but he’s cultivated a reputation as being the toughest man in hockey — and a perennial challenger to Tom Wilson. In 2018, Reaves autographed a photo of Wilson reeling from Reaves’ blindside hit. Reaves added a note: “He ran into a lion in the jungle.”
In their next meeting, Reaves targeted Wilson with a flurry of hits.
“I just don’t like him,” Reaves said a few months later. “Hands down, I just don’t like the guy.”
In 2021, Vegas traded Reaves to the New York Rangers, and that’s when Jeff Marek reported this quote from Reaves:
I am the solution to your Tom Wilson problem.
Speaking about Wilson’s 2021 brawl with the Rangers, Reaves was asked by John Scott if Wilson would have been so physical if Reaves were in the game. “Probably not,” Reaves said. “Because if that happens and he doesn’t get kicked out of that game, I can promise you, we’re fighting three times that game. And if he does get kicked out of that game, I promise you, I’m telling him, ‘We’re fighting three times (next game) or I’m jumping you. Take your pick. Defend yourself or let’s just get it over with.'”
On November 2, Brad Marchand injured Leafs defender Timothy Liljegren with a trip into the boards.
Reaves did not fight or confront Marchand after the play. “[Marchand] was lucky I wasn’t on the ice with him,” Reaves said after the game. “Unfortunately they had last change, so I didn’t get any shifts against him.”
“When something happens on the ice, I’m always gonna stick up for a teammate,” Reaves said back in 2021.
When asked about the team’s response to Marchand’s hit, Sheldon Keefe was blunt. “I hated everything about it. I’ve addressed it.”
Reaves was on the ice for two of Calgary’s four goals during Toronto’s shootout win on Friday night. That might have been enough for the head coach, who is slotting in AHL regular Bobby McMann on the Leafs’ fourth line.
Also today, Keefe also announced that troubled defender John Klingberg, outscored 14 to 8, will return to the lineup.
The Leafs, 7-5-2, will host the Canucks, 10-2-1, for Hockey Night in Canada tonight.
Screenshot via Toronto Maple Leafs/YouTube
