The Toronto Maple Leafs get their first bit of free agent business done under Brad Treliving on the first day of free agency as the club inks veteran forward Ryan Reaves to a three-year contract worth $4.05M ($1.35M AAV)
#Leafs signing Ryan Reaves: 3 x $1.35 million. @DailyFaceoff @CapFriendly
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 1, 2023
Reaves, 36, is coming off a one-year, $1.75M contract he signed with the New York Rangers last off-season. He spent just 12 games with the Rangers last season going pointless before being traded to the Minnesota Wild for a 2025 5th-round pick where he’d go on to play 61 games for them in the regular season and six games in the playoffs.
In the 73 games split between the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild, Reaves scored five goals and 15 points while also playing his physical brand of hockey that all fans of the game know and recognize.
Reaves has skated in 828 regular season games over 13 seasons in the NHL and 108 playoff games with teams like the St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, New York Rangers, and Minnesota Wild.
The Winnipeg native has 129 career points alongside his eye-opening 2797 career hits and 83 career fighting majors.
Since his rookie season with the Blues in 2010-11, Reaves ranks 3rd in hits just ahead of Luke Schenn (2779) and just behind two current Islanders, Cal Clutterbuck (3078) and Matt Martin (3688)
Reaves will bring a lot of personality and physicality to the Maple Leafs lineup, and although he brings little to no scoring in the bottom six, watching him hit and fight in the blue and white will be fun. I just don’t know if it’s $1.35M per year fun.
(All stats from Hockeydb and Statmuse)
