NHL BREAKING NEWS! Big Trouble for Ryan Reaves... This Isn't Good...
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed NHL enforcer Ryan Reaves to a controversial three-year, $4.05 million contract this past offseason. The Leafs, seeking to become a harder team to play against in the playoffs, 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.

Reaves has been doing a ton more sitting out this season. The 37-year-old winger has not played in a game since December 14, originally due to a lower-body injury. He was placed on injured reserve two days after suffering the injury and has been on IR since.

Fast forward to near late January and Reaves claims he has been healthy for weeks. The problem is that he’s still on IR and recently told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox that he has received no indication about when his stint out of the lineup may come to an end.

“Yeah, I’ve been ready for a couple weeks now,” Reaves said. That’s a question for them. I am not in those rooms, in those conversations. I’m not going to speculate anything. Just stay ready. And if I get called upon, I do. If I don’t, I get my work in.”

Sheldon Keefe, Maple Leafs head coach, was asked about the situation and sang a different tune.

“Just keep working,” Keefe said. “Stay ready. That’s a big part of it. He’s working his way through an injury. It’s hard to figure when’s the right time to test him in a game.”

The NHL policy for players to be on regular IR differs from the process of placing them on LTIR. Regular IR comes down to a decision from just the individual club’s medical staff per their medical standards. LTIR requires a form submitted to the league that is signed by the player and the team doctor. It’s more closely policed due to salary cap ramifications.

So, while Reaves may believe he has been healthy enough to play for weeks, the Leafs could disagree. And, there’s not a ton he can do about that.

“I definitely hate it,” Reaves said. “I don’t know exactly what the situation is or what’s going to happen – I talked to my agents. I’ve had highs and lows in my career before. I’d say probably this is one of the tougher ones. I guess just…it is what it is. You can only control what you can control. I don’t make the lineup, and I don’t have any control over the roster.”

In 21 games this season for the Leafs, Reaves has recorded just one point, a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks in late November. He is also a minus-11 and has been a drag on the team’s five-on-five play when he has been in the lineup.

With Reaves on the ice this season, Toronto sees just 43 percent of the shot attempts, 36.9 percent of the expected goals, 38.3 percent of the scoring chances, and 31.6 percent of the high-danger chances. They have been outscored 13-2 in those minutes.

Reaves is averaging just 7:20 of average ice time per game in those outings. He has not played less than that since 2017-18 with the Pittsburgh Penguins when he skated just 6:45 of ice time per game in 58 games before being dealt to Vegas.

Notably, the Maple Leafs have two games left on their schedule against the Washington Capitals this season. The two teams did meet up once already in late October but Reaves and long-time mortal enemy, Tom Wilson were not involved in any moments of animosity. Reaves, the self-proclaimed solution to Wilson, did play over 10 minutes in the game, his only game with more than 10 minutes of ice time this season.

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