Toronto Maple Leafs: 5 Reasons to Have Ryan Reaves on the Roster

One of the first signings that new Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving completed was a three-year deal with free agent Ryan Reaves that came with a cap hit of $1.35 Million.

While the Toronto Maple Leafs have received plenty of criticism for the deal, but the fact is that he will be dressing for the club for the foreseeable future.

What the club gets is an intense forward that is arguably the most feared player in the league.

Once the season starts he can put the fanbase behind him by making himself known to a few players that have crossed the line with the team over the past few years.

The Top Five Public Enemies

Here is a list of five players that Reaves can introduce himself to.

Radko Gudas – Anaheim Ducks

I’d like to think that once Radko Gudas heard that Reaves had signed in Toronto he got as far away as possible as shortly after the Toronto Maple Leafs signing hit the media, Gudas signed in Anaheim.

The 33-year old defenseman had a long history around the league with making enemies, however he had not built up much of a reputation against the  Leafs until this past season.  Fans first started their hatred for Gudas in January this past year when after a borderline low hit on Pierre Engvall, he refused to drop the gloves.

After Gudas had sent the lanky forward to the ice on the questionable hit, to which Zach Aston-Reese came over to engage in a fight, however Gudas stood there doing nothing drawing ZAR into a roughing penalty.

During this past playoff series, Gudas had a very dangerous and unpenalized hit on David Kampf after the whistle.  Kampf lucky enough was not injured and was able to get up from the play, but Gudas like far too often got away with no penalty.

The final offense was on the very last play of the season.  With the Leafs playoff hopes on the fringe and in overtime, Nick Cousins led an odd-man rush against Toronto.  As Cousins stepped into the middle of the ice in the offensive zone, Calle Järnkrok was unable to get a stick in the lane and the Florida forward was able to score the series clinching overtime goal.

The replay showed that the reason Järnkrok was unable to properly make the play on Cousins was that Gudas had grabbed onto the Maple Leafs players stick was dragging him away.  In typical Gudas fashion and showing no sportsmanship, he stood overtop of the rookie Joseph Woll screaming in his face.

You’d like to think that Reaves could meet up with Gudas when the two teams meet in January, but if Gudas is too scared to drop the gloves with ZAR, you’d expect a full turtle against Reaves.

Steven Stamkos – Tampa Bay Lightning

The Toronto kid who turned down more money to play in his home town and head back to sunny Florida.  Steven Stamkos has built up a little reputation the last few years of starting fights with guys who aren’t prepared.

He has eight career fights and seven of them he has dropped his gloves and grabbed onto his opponent before they have had a chance to drop their gloves.

This past playoff series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs saw Stamkos act no differently.

After an unfortunate, yet accidental hit that knocked Brayden Point into the boards had a the Lightning start a massive line brawl, led by two of the most under rated dirty players in the league (Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov).

Stamkos first started his actions by dishing a cross check to the back of Morgan Rielly who was laying on the ice dealing with Kucherov.

Then after the incident had all but ended, Auston Matthews started picking up sticks and equipment.  Stamkos who was started throwing jabs at Matthews who need to unload all the equipment in his hands before he could defend himself.

No instigator, no extra penalty, five minutes for fighting for each player.

Reaves needs to skate up to Stamkos first game of the year, grab him by the jersey and do the exact same thing he did to Matthews.

Mikhail Sergachev – Tampa Bay Lightning

Mikhail Sergachev is the second Tampa Bay Lightning player to grace the list and to be fair there could be more.

You could include the league’s dirtiest player Nikita Kucherov, along with Brandon Hagel, while also including former Lightning Corey Perry and Pat Maroon, however those final two are pretty insignificant at this point in their careers.

Sergachev being included in the list has nothing to do with his recent comments that got misinterpreted in translation, but more to do with his on-ice actions.

The Russian defenseman falls right into the same category as Tory Krug and Charlie McAvoy where they are some of the dirtiest players in the league that get away with nearly everything.

Sergachev has been fined and suspended for separate incidences in the past against the Maple Leafs.

The first being a two-game suspension when he targeted Mitch Marner’s hit after a play was all but done.  He was also fined a whopping $5,000 last season for a slash to the wrist of Michael Bunting that was well behind the play.

These aren’t the only occurrences that Sergachev has done around the league as he has been fined on other occasions that should have led to suspensions.

The former first round pick runs around too much and takes liberty with star players and as the NHL won’t suspend him, Reaves can have an introduction.

Sam Bennett #9 of the Florida Panthers celebrates a goal against Matthew Knies #23 of the Toronto Maple Leafs  . (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Sam Bennett – Florida Panthers

Public Enemy #1 has to be Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett.

The Toronto native has always been known as a scrappy player, but he took it to a new level this past playoffs.

At the end of the  Leafs regular season the club was able to sign their top prospect Matthew Knies and he was inserted into the playoff line-up after collecting one assist in three regular season games.

The Arizona native had a superb start to the playoffs collecting four points in his first six games and looked to be an impact player.

In Game 2 of the Toronto Maple Leafs Panthers series, with Toronto leading 2-1 in the game, Bennett delivered a sucker punch to the jaw of Knies then wrapped his arm around the rookie and the Florida forward body slammed Knies to the ice.

The incident left the former second round pick with a concussion and knocked him out for the remainder of the playoffs.

While some say the two players just got tangled up, it was clear Bennett attempted to make it look accidental, however it was clearly deliberate.

Later that game during a battle in front of the net, Bennett delivered a cross check to the neck of Michael Bunting.

When the Maple Leafs forward dropped to the ice and with a penalty ensuing to Bennett he delivered a second cross check to the lower back of Bunting

For all of Bennett’s behavior he was assessed a total of two-minutes in penalties and a $5,000 fine.  This is a clear case why fans are fed up with George Parros being in charged of supplemental discipline.

Bennett has to know that going into his first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs this upcoming season he will have to speak to his actions.  There isn’t a better player to introduce himself to the Panthers forward than Reaves.