The Toronto Maple Leafs just cannot continue to run Ryan Reaves out there game after game, as he hurts the team and makes them worse.
Reaves has been in the lineup for seven of the Toronto Maple Leafs nine games so far this season. The Leafs have lost his minutes 3-0 and he hasn't provided anything, including a single fight. He has taken three minor penalties, however.
At least Reaves can usually be counted on to provide a spark with a fight, but we haven't seen him do that yet. For example, on Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game where the Maple Leafs needed a spark after quickly going down a goal, Reaves was nowhere to be found.
In the loss to the Blue Jackets, Toronto sleepwalked through the first period and would never wake up. They went on to lose 6-2. If there had ever been a game in which the Maple Leafs needed a jumpstart, this would have been it.
Ryan Reaves has no purpose on the Toronto Maple Leafs
This game against the Blue Jackets was the second game in a back-to-back set after the Leafs had dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
In the win against the Lightning, the Leafs played a complete sixty minutes of hockey and looked great. They dominated the Lightning from start to finish. Not once did it feel like they were flat, nor did it ever feel like the lead might slip away.
However, the night after, against a much worse Columbus opponent, the Leafs were outshot 15-6 in the first period and were down 3-0 (via NaturalStatTrick). Yes, it was the second game of a back-to-back; they had to travel and were likely a little worn out after playing three games in four days).
While these excuses may have played some factor in the loss, we can't give the Leafs a pass for being 'tired' in game seven of the season. In this game, Ryan Reaves, the Maple Leafs enforcer, needed to step up and find a fight to generate energy on the bench.
Then, this same story happened again on Thursday night against Craig Berube and Reave's former team the St. Louis Blues. The Leafs fell behind 2-0 in the first 10 minutes of this game, and you could just see the Maple Leafs had no intensity for the second straight game and would go on to lose 5-1.
Ryan Reaves is not on this team because of his hockey skills. He is on this team because he is one of the best enforcers the NHL has seen in recent memory, and to be honest, if Reaves didn't have this reputation, he would not be in the NHL, let alone making more than a million dollars per year.
Reaves has refused to try to spark momentum in all four losses on the Leafs' record this season and has run away from fights from Arber Xhekaj and Matt Rempe. If Reaves is not going to fight for this team when they need to find some energy. He has no use being in the NHL, let alone on the Toronto Maple Leafs who are trying to compete for a Stanley Cup.