Ryan Reaves
The biggest myth in hockey is that you need an enforcer to protect your star players. Most teams have realized this to be true, but the Leafs insist on wasting a roster spot on the worst player in the NHL anyways.
Still, with the Leafs getting deeper at the bottom of their lineup, it may prevent Ryan Reaves from making the Leafs regular lineup for the 2024-24 season. After all, Reaves hasn’t been a fleet-footed skater for most of his NHL career. Now at 37 years old, he isn’t going to get any faster any time soon as well.
Last season, Reaves tallied 4 goals and 6 points over 49 games for the Maple Leafs. However, he was a great liability when on the ice playing in 5-on-5 situations, giving up 12 more goals than the team had scored along with a CF% of 48%, consistently tilting the ice in the opposition’s favour. The fact that he also doesn’t really kill penalties, his role becomes quite limited to just handling some of the rough stuff when needed. (All stats from nhl.com and naturalstattrick.com)
It is definitely not necessity for Reaves to be in the lineup at all, but there is no telling what the Leafs will do. If they cut him, it would significantly improve the Leafs both from an offensive and defensive standpoint. As a result, look for the biggest surprise on Opening Night for the Leafs to be Reaves omission from the roster.