It hasn’t been the best first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs for tough guy Ryan Reaves.
He signed with Toronto last summer to bring some well-needed physical presence to the Maple Leafs, but he hasn’t contributed offensively as fans had hoped, and before the new year, he was often a healthy scratch.
But during the last couple of weeks, Reaves has stepped up and has been in some great fights.
But on Tuesday, he was forced to leave the game against the Philadelphia Flyers after a big tilt with Nicolas Deslauriers.
The fight occurred just five minutes into the game, and Reaves was immediately sent to the penalty box. But he didn’t return to the ice.
Reaves left straight for the locker room from the penalty box, and on the broadcast, it was evident that his eye had swollen up.
The fight was an even contest between the two combatants, but the vast majority of fans seemed to believe that Deslauriers got the best of Reaves.
Reaves didn’t return to Tuesday’s game and left the game with only 43 seconds of ice time.
On social media, fans were critical of him, both for how he handled the fight and for being forced to leave it due to the swollen eye.
”What is Reeves even good for?” one said on X, formerly Twitter.
”Deslauriers for the win,” another said.
”Has Reaves won a fight this season?” a third said.
”Reaves Didn’t flex his muscles after the fight lol,” a fourth added.
