Ryan Reaves
Signed during the 2023 offseason to help toughen up the lineup, Ryan Reaves has been quite the disappointment so far for the Leafs this season.
Averaging just a little over seven minutes of ice time per game, Reaves has only one goal to show for in 21 games played.
But more importantly, he has been on the ice for 13 goals against compared to just 2 goals for, along with a 42.86 CF% at 5v5 despite his limited playing time, proving that he was quite a liability when deployed. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
Prior to his current lower-body injury that has put him out since mid-December, Reaves was already used sparingly with the call-up of Bobby McMann.
Now with the solid play of recent call-up Pontus Holmberg, there may no longer be a spot for Reaves in the everyday lineup upon his return as he will need to show his value to garner any sort of playing time once again.
More significantly, the Leafs have attempted in the past to utilize toughness in their lineup when the playoff season commenced. But each time as the playoffs progressed, they chose to remove the toughness and reverted to more scoring and defensive options in the end instead.
A prime example of this took place last season with tough guy Wayne Simmonds when he was removed from the lineup following two ineffective games where he racked up 14 PIMs of unnecessary penalties.
As a result, if they truly learned from the past, they could forgo that option earlier this time and acquire the right complementary piece(s) at the deadline instead to take its place.