Sean Avery criticizes Ryan Reaves, accuses him of not doing the job he was brought in to do
On Monday night, we saw Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe do something we didn't think was coming this early in the season. He benched Ryan Reaves midway through the 2nd period and didn't see a shift for the rest of the game, finishing with around 4 and a half minutes of ice time.
Part of the reason for the benching was that he simply wasn't living up to his end of the deal. In the early stages of the season, Keefe lauded Reaves for his defensive play, indicated that he was a lot better than people were giving him credit for. Well, fast forward a few weeks and Reaves is a -8 and hasn't seen the ice very often, which is a problem for someone who is signed for 2 more seasons after this one at $1.35M per season.
On Tuesday, former NHLer Sean Avery took it upon himself to send a message to Reaves on his podcast presented by "Full Send". Avery began by revealing that he was a Maple Leafs fan all throughout his childhood and that he used to sleep in Maple Leafs pajamas, much like John Tavares. What followed was a 4-minute rant on how Reaves is failing this team.
"Ryan Reaves is -8 in 11 games... Toronto Maple Leaf fans - do you understand how bad Ryan Reaves is as a hockey player? I know you guys were excited. You brought him in and he was going to change the DNA of the franchise. He was going to make everyone feel bigger than they are... he's a protector. It's great to have a protector around... The problem with Ryan Reaves is I'm not sure if he's a protector.
Brad Marchand can-opens Liljegren, one of your better defensemen... where was Ryan Reaves? I saw his interview the next day and he was talking about 'well, I didn't get matched up with Brad Marchand.' Well, of course you didn't get matched up with Brad Marchand. You're -8. You're one of the worst players in the league... you're never going to get on the ice with Brad Marchand.
You need to find a way to make Brad Marchand still be afraid of you. Isn't that the idea of your job? So you either gotta work harder in practice on your shot, your skating, your passing, or you gotta look over your shoulder to your coach and say 'hey, let's burn a win on this and send a message to the rest of the league that you don't do that to our star players.' You don't, the next day, talk about how you didn't get on the ice with a future Hall of Famer.
Do your job and you'll be beloved in Toronto. They will love you, but I need you to work a little bit harder, defensively, for sure... you chip and chase and finish your checks and when somebody needs to get beaten up, you beat them up. That's all we need from you this season. I don't need you doing dances in the hallways, or worrying about playlists before games. Just do your job." - Avery on Reaves
Brad Marchand can-opens Liljegren, one of your better defensemen... where was Ryan Reaves? I saw his interview the next day and he was talking about 'well, I didn't get matched up with Brad Marchand.' Well, of course you didn't get matched up with Brad Marchand. You're -8. You're one of the worst players in the league... you're never going to get on the ice with Brad Marchand.
You need to find a way to make Brad Marchand still be afraid of you. Isn't that the idea of your job? So you either gotta work harder in practice on your shot, your skating, your passing, or you gotta look over your shoulder to your coach and say 'hey, let's burn a win on this and send a message to the rest of the league that you don't do that to our star players.' You don't, the next day, talk about how you didn't get on the ice with a future Hall of Famer.
Do your job and you'll be beloved in Toronto. They will love you, but I need you to work a little bit harder, defensively, for sure... you chip and chase and finish your checks and when somebody needs to get beaten up, you beat them up. That's all we need from you this season. I don't need you doing dances in the hallways, or worrying about playlists before games. Just do your job." - Avery on Reaves
Obviously, nobody is expecting Reaves to fight 82 times a year, just like nobody is expecting Reaves to go out there to score 20 goals or to kill penalties. His job is a simple one. Hold guys accountable. Be a good teammate. Now, there are obviously limits to what he can do on the ice, but if Bruins coach Jim Montgomery was doing everything in his power to use the luxury of the last change in Boston to prevent Reaves from getting out there against Marchand, why didn't Reaves get in the ear of Max Domi or someone else on the team and emphasize the importance of making Marchand answer the bell?
We still have a lot of runway ahead this season. There's a chance that we look back on this whole ordeal as a turning point a few weeks from now. However, we all know that Reaves needs to be a whole lot better than what he has been. Hopefully Reaves knows that as well, and I'm sure he does.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 8 | 241 ANSWERS Sean Avery criticizes Ryan Reaves, accuses him of not doing the job he was brought in to do Do you agree with Sean Avery's assessment of Ryan Reaves' start in Toronto? | ||
| Yes, surprisingly | 150 | 62.2 % |
| No, Avery is out to lunch | 38 | 15.8 % |
| Don't care, just win | 53 | 22 % |
| List of polls | ||
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