Ryan Reaves Confirms Truth Behind Why He Was Actually Traded by the Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off a surprising deal involving veteran enforcer Ryan Reaves on Thursday night after 10:00 pm ET, which caught many off-guard.

It's not the fact that Reaves was traded that was surprising, but due to the timing of it all, given Reaves' recent comments in support of former teammate Mitch Marner, defending his friend from the criticism he had been receiving over the last couple of seasons and the Leafs' most recent playoff run.

Reaves was dealt to the San Jose Sharks late Thursday evening in exchange for 24-year-old defenseman Henry Thrun, who is likely earmarked for the AHL, unless the Leafs opt to trade a defenseman for some help up front.

On Friday, however, Reaves addressed the media and revealed that it wasn't the Leafs who initiated the trade talks, but Reaves himself who requested a deal out of Toronto, as mentioned below by David Alter of The Hockey News.

Reaves carries a cap hit of $1.35M, and while most of that was a buriable amount, freeing up the full $1.35M may aid the Leafs further by giving them some extra cap space to work with, allowing them to take on a player with a higher salary.

When you also consider that the Leafs may also be moving on from one or more of Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf and Max Domi as well, the organization has the ability to free up a significant amount of cap space to help bolster the top-6.

Recently, a report surfaced suggesting that the Leafs could be open to the idea of moving top defensive prospect Ben Danford as a part of a package for an impact forward as well, so it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds and who the Leafs might target.