Ryan Reaves
Age: 36
Height/Weight: 6’2″, 225 LBS
Contract: $1.35 million Cap-Hit, expires after the 2025-26 season.
Draft: 5th Round, 156 Overall by the St. Louis Blues in 2005
Acquired: UFA
Role: Ryan Reaves will fill the unnecessary and superfluous role of enforcer.
Career Highs: 9 Goals and 18 points in 2018-19 for the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Last Year’s Scoring: 5 Goals and 15 Points over 73 Games with the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild, though he didn’t score a single point with New York.
Last Year 5v5 Scoring/ Rate: 5 Goals 15 Points. 0.53 P/60 with the Wild, 0 P/60 with the Rangers.
On-Ice 5v5 Stats: Cori-For 46% ; Shots-For 46%; Scoring-Chances-For 45% Goals-For 51% Expected Goals 48%
Status: Significantly overpaid role player.
Expectations: Couldn’t be lower
Notes: While I’m sure all the stuff about what a great guy Ryan Reaves is true, and that that will slightly help the Leafs in some small way, it is never going to be worth giving three years and going beyond the league minimum for a player that loses his minutes.
It has been three seasons since Reaves posted an expected-goals rating over 50%, and now that he is 36 he isn’t going to get any better.
This was a bizarre and indefensible signing.