The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced the Ryan Reaves contract this afternoon. Toronto signed the veteran forward to a three-year deal worth $4.05 million. The average cap hit will be $1.35 million person season.
Ryan Reaves in TOR will be 3x$1.35 when it's done
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2023
Maple Leafs Sign Ryan Reaves Contract
Reaves has played for the St. Louis Blues, Vegas Golden Knights, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild in his 13-year NHL career. The Winnipeg native netted five years and 10 assists for 15 points in 73 games. He also supplied 43 penalty minutes in the 2022-23 campaign. Reaves has been known to provide sandpaper with every team that he’s been on. However, he hasn’t exceeded 100 penalty minutes since the 2017-18 season. His Corsi for was 45.9 and a relative Corsi of -4.8.
The 36-year-old has 59 goals and 70 assists and 129 points in 828 career games. He’s also racked up 1,023 penalty minutes and has been in a number of scraps. The Blues originally drafted Reaves in the fifth round, 156th overall of the 2005 NHL Draft.
Impact of Ryan Reaves Contract
This is a bit of a puzzling signing for general manager Brad Treliving. There’s always the want to add toughness to protect the finesse players that the Maple Leafs possess. However, Reaves is at the tail-end of his career. He’ll be 39 when the contract is over if he’s not bought out before that.
Toronto is also trying to sign extensions for Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Both are eligible to extend their deals after today. However, Reaves will eat a little bit into that cap number.
Reaves can give the Leafs toughness, but maybe Toronto could have gone in a different direction. There’s also the question of the term of the deal. This deal could have been more digestible if it were maybe for one year. A multi-year deal is puzzling from Treliving, who is trying to put his mark on his new team.
Main photo by: Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports
