The Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off a move that was at first puzzling, but not for why they did it, but for how they got away with it. And now we know why it was done, which makes it even more of a win for the Leafs.
On late Thursday night, it was announced that the Maple Leafs dealt Ryan Reaves, a 38-year-old enforcer who doesn't really enforce anything and was clearly no longer going to be a part of this Toronto team, to the San Jose Sharks and they actually got something back for him. Coming up north is 24-year-old defenseman Henry Thrun who was a once-promising prospect playing college hockey but has been soured on by the worst team in the league.
But it gets even better.
During his post-trade virtual press conference -- from a beautiful location, I might add -- Reaves said that he told Leafs general manager Brad Treliving that there was "no longer a fit" in Toronto. Specifically, he cited being placed on waivers and being assigned to the AHL this past season.
Ryan Reaves, doing media, says he told Brad Treliving at the end of the season that there was no longer a fit in Toronto, given everything that transpired, being on waivers. Appreciative of the GM for finding him a new place to play. pic.twitter.com/XYTFC7YTQL
— David Alter (@dalter) July 11, 2025
And now he gets to find a new home to play on the fourth line of an NHL team for the final year of his current contract that pays him $1.35 million. He might get the chance to defend the young budding superstars on that team with a couple punches, but most likely he will be on the bench or up in the press box a whole lot.
With this new information, it makes this move even better.
If a veteran player with a not-so-good contract is asking for a change of scenery, typically, as we have seen in the past, a team would work something out for him to get sent out for nothing. Maybe it's an AHL veteran depth player, or a nothing prospect, or even just for future considerations. But it's almost immediately evident that it was done as a favor to the player.
But now, we know that that trade was asked for by Reaves himself -- but somehow, Treliving was able to pry away a player that can actually play in the NHL and do things. It might not be anything more than a bottom-pairing defenseman, but it is a 24-year-old bottom-pairing defenseman that, at the very least, is under team control for three more seasons.
With this addition as well, we could see the Leafs being more comfortable moving off from one of their other defensemen to get an impact forward. That would not be possible if they didn't get Thrun from San Jose to be a potential replacement. We're not even sure if Thrun is better than Philippe Myers at this time, but he certainly has the potential to be and that's good enough for me.
The Summer of Treliving continues.