Leafs' Reaves jokes kids' Christmas is off due to his suspension
Ryan Reaves is back with the Toronto Maple Leafs after serving a five-game suspension for a hit he issued on Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse.
While he hasn’t faced the media in a while, the bruising forward didn’t miss a beat, delivering a trademark quip when asked about the length of the suspension, which cost him two weeks of pay.
“I don’t want to get into that. I already told the kids that Christmas is cancelled,” the 37-year-old father of two joked. “I don’t want to get fined again. So, it’s over. We’re just going to leave it at that.”
On a more serious note, though, the veteran seemed to take some accountability for injuring the Edmonton blueliner — but still chalked it up to an unfortunate accident.
“I took a couple of inches too bad an angle and caught him,” Reaves explained after practice. “Just an unfortunate incident that if I’m a second later, I can only catch body. But, obviously, it’s something you don’t want to see, but it was just a split second too early.”
Nurse, for his part, had harsh words for Reaves, accusing him of going out of his way to “inflict pain” on opponents after his first practice back with the Oilers. Reaves didn’t shy away from the claim, confirming the accusation.
“The only truth that he spoke was I go out there to inflict pain. That’s a fact, and that’s not going to stop,” the 6-foot-2 enforcer noted. “But, I’m going to continue to do it legally. But, yeah, I’m going to keep playing hard, if not harder now. And I’m going to keep burying guys.”
Whether Reaves, who has 23 penalty minutes in 16 games, can stay out of the box and off the suspension sheet remains to be seen. But in the meantime, he just seems happy to be back.
“I’m just excited to get back in the lineup with the boys and, yeah, just bring more energy,” he said.
After posting a 4-1 record in their last five, the Leafs will be back in action on Wednesday night when they take on the Nashville Predators.