Ryan Reaves time with the Toronto Maple Leafs appears to be coming to a premature end
Sportsnet reporter Michael Amato recently put out a piece regarding Ryan Reaves' future with the Maple Leafs, and it does not look great.
Ryan Reaves, who will turn 38 later this month, has a year left on his contract after this one.
Notably, he is making a decent bit above league minimum as well, with a 1.35 million dollar cap hit.
Considering what he brings to the team, it may be time for Brad Treliving to ask if he is really worth that price tag.
Luckily, his cap hit is still small enough that it can mostly be buried in the AHL, and he wouldn't be too difficult to trade either.
Treliving may very well take one of these options shortly as Michael Amato points out the cap logistics of keeping him on the team.
"It's going to become increasingly challenging to insert Reaves into the lineup, even for a coach like Craig Berube, who scratched and clawed his way to 1,000 games in this league playing a similar role to Reaves. In today's NHL, every player's performance has to justify their salary and the percentage of the cap they occupy, and there really isn't an argument with enough merit to make for Reaves."
Amato hits the nail on the head with this analysis. It echoes what many Leafs fans have been saying for months.
Reaves has been a popular topic of discussion among Leafs fans, including SDPN, where he was the subject of a recent discussion.
Adam and Steve debated whether or not Reaves should be in the lineup, especially considering how good the fourth line has played without him.
Leafs fans have been debating Reaves' usefulness basically all season long.
That debate has continued as Reaves continues to draw into the lineup without really providing anything of note to the team.
He is averaging just over 3 hits per game, and that is just about the most positive thing you can say about his scorecard.
The lack of fighting has been particularly noticeable, as that is what he was signed to do.
Many Leafs fans believe that there isn't really a reason to play him over someone else since he hasn't been able to drop the gloves with anyone.
As the league moves further and further away from enforcers and fighting in general, that tendency will only get worse.
Reaves got into a single fight during the preseason last autumn but has failed to get into a single scrap since then.
In 27 games with the Leafs this season he has 2 assists, a -1 rating, and 23 penalty minutes.
He has been an active detriment to his team more often than not, even taking a major penalty and getting a five-game suspension for his hit on Darnell Nurse last year.
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