The Ryan Reaves experiment takes an interesting turn ahead of tonight's game against Vancouver
On Saturday morning, the Toronto Maple Leafs made the decision to recall Bobby McMann from the Toronto Marlies and have opted to send Pontus Holmberg back down to the American Hockey League. The move comes on the heels of a thrilling 5-4 shootout win over the Calgary Flames and ahead of the second half of a back-to-back tonight against the Vancouver Canucks to close out the 5-game home stand.
When McMann was called up on Saturday, it appeared to be more of a depth move than anything else, with McMann likely earmarked for the 13th forward role. However, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, McMann is actually drawing into the lineup tonight against the Canucks. Ryan Reaves is the odd man out, per Friedman.
Reaves was a -2 last night in approximately 4 and a half minutes of ice time and was scratched for the entire 3rd period and OT. This marks the 2nd time in 3 games that Sheldon Keefe had benched Reaves.
This will be the first time this season that Reaves will sit out a game in the press box, but the Leafs could have easily justified having him in the press box multiple times over the past few weeks. Reaves is a -11 this season in just 14 games. To put it bluntly, he hasn't been good.
Reaves now finds himself in a similar position to where he was in New York around this time last year, as The Athletic's Kevin Papetti points out below. Almost identical, in fact. The Rangers opted to trade Reaves after this point, so I'll be curious to see what the Leafs do here.
Previously on Maple Leafs Daily
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 11 | 455 ANSWERS The Ryan Reaves experiment takes an interesting turn ahead of tonight's game against Vancouver Will Ryan Reaves play another game as a Leaf? | ||
| No | 113 | 24.8 % |
| Yes | 162 | 35.6 % |
| He probably will, but he shouldn't | 180 | 39.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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