The Leafs are trying an interesting strategy to get the most out of Reaves
When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Ryan Reaves this summer, the reaction wasn’t exactly positive around much of the team’s fanbase.
Signing a journeyman enforcer to a three-year contract at age 36 was a headscratcher for many Leafs fans, as committing a roster spot to a player with less than nine minutes of ice time per night in his career didn’t exactly seem like the wisest move.
But in Reaves’ regular season debut for the Leafs, he made his presence known rather immediately ā and is drawing praise from his coaching staff as well.
Fighting Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj in the first period while also drawing an instigator penalty in the process, it appears the Leafs are trying to use Reaves’ reputation as a force daring the other team to retaliate and send Toronto to the power play, or taking a fighting major and taking one of their skilled players off the ice.
“I thought our fourth line was outstanding. Kampf, Gregor, and Reaves were great. Reaves, with the way he started the game with two great hits, gets the crowd involved and draws an instigator on a fight,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters postgame. “It gives the team every opportunity to score on the power play, and it was consistently good throughout the game.”
Arber Xhekaj and Ryan Reaves. š„
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While Toronto didn’t score on the penalty drawn by Reaves, they did connect twice with the man advantage in the second period, en route to a 6-5 shootout win in a wild season opener.
And as long as he maintains a spot in the lineup, it seems like drawing penalties is one of the best ways he’ll be able to influence the team’s offence in his limited ice time: Reaves’ career high in points is 20, while his career high in goals is nine.
In theory, the strategy makes a lot of sense. In practice, it might be a tougher sell.
Over the course of his career, Reaves has taken 159 minor penalties, while drawing his opponents in for 128, via data compiled through Natural Stat Trick and Hockeyfights.
For the Leafs’ sake, they can only hope they get last year’s version of Reaves, where he drew seven minor penalties while taking just four of his own, to go along with seven fights.
In 2021-22, Reaves drew five minor penalties while taking 14; and in 2020-21, Reaves took 14 minor penalties, while drawing just five.
Toronto went 64-for-246 on power play opportunities in 2022-23, a 26.0% mark that ranked second in the league. But Toronto’s extra-strength goal total only ranked seventh league-wide, influenced by the fact their total power plays ranked 18th in the league.
If they’re able to unlock Reaves’ potential as a penalty drawer, perhaps they’ll be able to juice those numbers up a bit this season. Only time will tell if the strategy ends up being effective, or simply one that sounds nice.