NHL Player Safety Decides Ryan Reaves' Fate After Dirty Hit on Darnell Nurse
After a chilling scene last night, when Ryan Reaves knocked out Darnell Nurse with a hit to the head, he has been suspended.
The NHL department of player safety has suspended Reaves five games for this illegal check to the head.
Here's a full video of the scene, where longtime NHL veteran grinder Ryan Reaves decided to throw an illegal check to the head to the Edmonton Oilers defenseman:
Ryan Reaves is in the second year of a three-year $4.05 million deal signed by GM Brad Treliving of the Toronto Maple Leafs. While he is still a very physical and scary man, criticism has emerged over his pace of play and overall game.
Darnell Nurse, who may miss some time due to this hit, is one of the highest paid defensemen in the NHL, with an annual average salary of $9.25 million, widely regarded as one of the worst contracts in the NHL.
We will see how the contract ages over the rest of the decade, but it is no secret that the team regrets giving out that deal.
This is the fourth suspension of Ryan Reaves' career, and he will have to forfeit over $35,000 in salary over these five games.
While he likely would have spent half these games in the press box anyways, being a regular healthy scratch, the Leafs will not have him as an option against physical teams like the Florida Panthers on November 27th.
Reaves will return in December.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Martin Necas | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Neighbours | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jordan Kyrou | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Dmitry Orlov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| Pavel Buchnevich | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| William Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| Radek Faksa | - | - | - | |
| Justin Faulk | - | - | - | |
| Joel Hofer | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Holloway | - | - | - | |
| Mathieu Joseph | - | - | - | |
| Tyson Jost | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 18 | 15 | 3 | - | 30 | |
Devils | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 26 | |
Wild | 17 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 25 | |
Panthers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Hurricanes | 16 | 12 | 4 | - | 24 | |
Golden Knights | 17 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 24 | |
Maple Leafs | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 24 | |
Capitals | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 23 | |
Kings | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 23 | |
Stars | 16 | 11 | 5 | - | 22 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||