The NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Ryan Reaves has been suspended five games for Saturday night’s hit on Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse.
Toronto’s Ryan Reaves has been suspended for five games for an illegal check to the head against Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse. https://t.co/GyVuA2TLmG
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) November 17, 2024
In the second period against the Oilers, Reaves caught Nurse, who was rounding the net, with a hit that caught him high, causing Nurse to bleed and knocking him out of the game. Reaves was assessed as a five-minute major and ejected.
A suspension was a near certainty, with the only question concerning the length. Frankly, I won’t try to make much sense of it. Reaves caught Nurse high and almost certainly gave him a concussion. As Nurse rounded the net, Reaves had plenty of time to think about it. He ultimately hit him high with the type of east-west contact the league is trying to eradicate.
That said, I still think back to first-time offender Jason Spezza receiving six games on a hit where Neal Pionk hit the ice before Spezza made contact, making the hit much worse than it would/should have been. By contrast, Reaves straight-up made bad contact.
The Tanner Jeannot hit on Brock Boeser was similar — in my opinion, it was worse — and Jeannot only received three games from the DoPS. The system makes no sense, and it’s not even worth the time and effort to try to make heads or tails of it.
If Matthews cannot return the next game, the Leafs would now have four would-be regulars out, including Max Pacioretty and Calle Jarnkrok. Alex Steeves was a healthy scratch last game and figures to receive another look, but more interestingly, they will likely call up another forward. Who will it be?
It would seem premature to call up Fraser Minten or Nikita Grebenkin, who just started their pro careers in North America. Cedric Pare, who was signed to an NHL contract over the summer, is currently injured (week-to-week, lower body). Alex Nylander would have to be signed to a contract first.
Beyond those four, who are the other options? Marlies captain Logan Shaw is off to another productive start and is a right-handed winger with size, but he is also signed to an AHL contract at this time (the same goes for Joseph Blandisi, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury anyway). Nick Abruzzese, signed to an NHL contract, has had a cup of coffee in the league before, but he is off to a very slow start to the season, with four points in 12 games and a minus-eight plus/minus.
None of these players might even appear in the lineup as the Leafs could dress Steeves and call up another Marlie player as a backup just in case. The Leafs also only play Wednesday followed by Sunday this week, leaving plenty of time for not just Matthews to return to full health but potentially Max Domi as well.
If anything, this is a big opportunity for the Leafs to establish a contributing fourth line without Reaves. The fourth line hasn’t produced much of anything and doesn’t have a clear role, yet Reaves’ spot in the lineup has been all but cemented in place so far. This forces a change and perhaps opens some eyes behind the bench to new possibilities.
