Sheldon Keefe gives his honest opinion of Ryan Reaves' training camp
On July 1st, when the Leafs announced their first deal of free agency, many were puzzled to learn that it was 36-year-old Ryan Reaves and that the deal wasn't a league minimum deal. The AAV is $1.35M and the term was another concern, as the veteran forward got 3 years out of the Leafs as opposed to the 2 years that Minnesota was offering.
Coming into training camp, it was understood that Reaves is probably not an every game type of player for the Leafs. His game is fairly one-dimensional and the biggest concern was that when the Leafs play on the road, the home team could exploit matchups with the last line change and expose some of Reaves' weaknesses to get the upper hand on the scoresheet.
Following last night's win over the Detroit Red Wings, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was asked what he has thought of Reaves' performance at training camp. Surprisingly, Keefe told the media that he thought that Reaves had been "great", identifying his defensive play as something that has really stood out. He also revealed that the coaching staff has often thought highly of Reaves' line, calling them one of the best lines on any given night.
Reaves' most consistent linemate has been David Kampf. He has also played a couple of pre-season games with Noah Gregor on the opposite wing. With both Kampf and Gregor being solid defensively, perhaps Reaves is simply a good compliment to them and that it's not necessarily his individual play that has stood out. Of course, it's entirely possible that Reaves is indeed better than anyone originally expected and that the fit with his linemates just amplifies how well he has played.
It's reasonable to suggest that we won't know who the true Ryan Reaves is until we're well into the regular season, so we should probably delay any judgement at this point. However, the early returns on this deal have been solid and it's entirely fine to be a little excited to see what this new look 4th line can do when the games start to matter.
| POLL | ||
6 OCTOBRE | 141 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe gives his honest opinion of Ryan Reaves' training camp Have you been impressed with Ryan Reaves during training camp? | ||
| Yes | 83 | 58.9 % |
| No | 58 | 41.1 % |
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