Several Maple Leafs Speak Out in Defense of Ryan Reaves Following Lengthy Suspension
After Saturday's horrific incident involving Ryan Reaves and Darnell Nurse, several members of the organization opened up about the play that caused the suspension.
During Saturday night's 4-3 overtime victory against the Edmonton Oilers, Reaves was handed a match penalty for his check to the head of defenseman Darnell Nurse.
The hit sparked a lot of discussion post-game, and the enforcer eventually received a 5-game ban for his "illegal check to the head" by the NHL's Department of Player Safety.
Some argued that 5 games is a little too steep, considering that Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Jeannot only received 3 games for his similar head shot against Vancouver Canucks' forward Brock Boeser, who remains sidelined. Nevertheless, Reaves' actions were brought into question, despite the glowing remarks about his character.
His head coach, on the other hand, understands the ruling, and despite his lack of intent to injure, the NHL has been doing their due diligence to crack down on hits to the head:
"... his type of game, sometimes things happen. It's not like he's a dirty player. He's not a dirty player. He's a clean player, in my opinion, for his role, & there was no intention of him doing that, it just happened."
-Berube on Reaves
As Luke Fox of Sportsnet points out, Reaves' hit checked off all the boxes that the Department of Safety is looking for when addressing these types of hits. Nurse's head was the point of contact, Reaves had time to avoid Nurse, Reaves has a history with 3 suspensions and 2 fines, and Nurse was injured on the play.
With a checkered past, Reaves was always going to get more games than some of his counterparts, but he surprisingly didn't receive an in-person hearing, which would have allowed George Parros to exceed the 5-game benchmark - but also would have allowed the Leafs to appeal if they were so inclined.
The Maple Leafs will now be without the enforcer until the 4th of December when they play host to the Nashville Predators. In his stead, they will more than likely go with Alex Steeves, who was called up from the Toronto Marlies, and wait for Auston Matthews to make his return.
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