With all the talk of the Leafs adding grit and snot this off season, fans thought they were past the days of seeing their favourite players carted off the ice without any reaction from the rest of the team. Thursday Night's game against the hated Boston Bruins proved otherwise. After a dirty trip from Brad Marchand in the first period, Timothy Liljegren needed help off the ice and down the tunnel. Word from the team is that Liljegren's injury is going to keep him out of the lineup long term. The reaction from the Leafs? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Ryan Reaves is not being paid $1.35M for this season and the next 2 for his elite skill set. His job, his only job really, is to be a physical presence and to intimidate that opponents to the point that they wouldn't dare take liberties on the rest of the team. Instead of making an example of Marchand by giving him what would have been the most well deserved beatdown in NHL history, or even dropping the gloves with Bruins tough guy Trent Frederic, all Reaves did was hurl insults from the bench. He didn't go after a single Bruin and barely threw a hit for the rest of the game. The league's presumptive heavyweight champion did absolutely nothing to avenge his injured teammate. Unacceptable from the guy who's job it is to keep opponents in check.
Unfortunately, this is becoming a pattern. Reaves also did nothing when William Nylander was drilled from behind when they played the Florida Panthers. Reaves has put more work into scaring his teammates for a Halloween prank than he has into scaring opponents and that's a problem. If he's not going to do his job, he needs to be in the press box. At this point, I'd much rather see Nick Robertson play than more of Reaves doing half-speed cardio out on the ice.
