Following the Leafs' 4-game road trip, the team had returned home to Toronto to prepare for a Wednesday evening matchup with the Winnipeg Jets, an eventual 1-0 win for the Leafs. All, that is, except for one player. That player was Tyler Bertuzzi.
Bertuzzi was back home with his wife in anticipation of the birth of the couple's second child and his absence allowed the Leafs to activate Ryan Reaves from injured reserve. Now, however, Bertuzzi has returned to Toronto and was on the ice for practice on Friday morning, which means that the team will have to make a move before returning Bertuzzi from non-roster to active.
There has been much speculation that the aforementioned Reaves may wind up on waivers at 2pm today. We don't have confirmation on that just yet, but it's very possible that it happens. Another possibility for the Leafs is to simply demote one of their waivers exempt players, such as Pontus Holmberg or Nicholas Robertson.
Recently, Ryan Reaves spoke out in an interview with Sportsnet's Luke Fox about the fact that he was healthy and had been for some time. As he made his comments it became abundantly clear that Reaves does not like sitting in the press box while fully healthy. He hinted that he either wanted to play or to have the Leafs attempt to facilitate a move, much like the one the Rangers made with Reaves last season, sending him to Minnesota.
It really does feel like whatever the solution is for the Leafs, it will more than likely involve Reaves in some facet. We'll have to wait until 2:00pm ET to see if that move involves waiving him or not, unless a move occurs beforehand to drop the Leafs to 22 roster players to accommodate Bertuzzi's return as the 23rd roster player.
