Don Cherry Shares His Thoughts on Controversial Ryan Reaves Hit to Darnell Nurse
In his podcast, Don Cherry shared his thoughts on Ryan Reaves' controversial hit on Darnell Nurse that forced the NHL to suspend the Maple Leafs forward for five games.
On Saturday night, Darnell Nurse had to leave the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after receiving a dangerous hit from the Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves.
Reaves struck Nurse's head with his shoulder as he went full speed on the forecheck.
Unfortunately, while Reaves' intentions have been widely debated by the hockey community, most fans can agree on something: Nurse put himself in a vulnerable position.
Indeed, he was trying to get the puck out of his zone and was skating with the puck near his net with his head down when Reaves hit him.
Watch the following video to see how it all went down:
The Player Safety Department decided to give Reaves a five-game suspension for what he did in a verdict that didn't surprise many people, including Don Cherry.
He recorded the episode on Sunday morning, before the DoPS's verdict was announced, and stated that Reaves would be suspended for five games.
He also mentioned how in his time, players didn't do that, as they knew they would pay the price if they put themselves in that position.
Here's what he said:
"You know it's a funny thing. Nobody [would] ever come around like that with their head down, because the wingers would leave, and as soon as they saw you do that once they'd get you the next time."
While the old-school style wouldn't be viable in today's hockey, players must still take lessons from what the older generation did. If Nurse hadn't put himself in this position, the incident would've been avoided.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Martin Necas | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Steven Stamkos | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Filip Forsberg | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Danton Heinen | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Aliaksei Protas | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Dylan Strome | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jakob Chychrun | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zachary Jones | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Keegan Kolesar | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zachary L'Heureux | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexis Lafrenière | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jake Neighbours | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gustav Nyquist | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Elias Pettersson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Aatu Raty | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kiefer Sherwood | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 18 | 15 | 3 | - | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 17 | 13 | 4 | - | 26 | |
Devils | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 26 | |
Capitals | 17 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 25 | |
Wild | 17 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 25 | |
Panthers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Golden Knights | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 24 | |
Maple Leafs | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 24 | |
Rangers | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 23 | |
Kings | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 23 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||