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A candy suspension for Ryan Reaves

 Jonathan Di Gregorio
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A candy suspension for Ryan Reaves
Credit: A few hours ago, Ryan Reaves had to explain himself to the Department of Player Safety following his illegal check on Darnell Nurse. His sentence for his action: a five-game suspension. Toronto’s Ryan Reaves has been suspended for five games for an illegal check to the head against Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse. https://t.co/GyVuA2TLmG – NHL Player […]
A few hours ago, Ryan Reaves had to explain himself to the Department of Player Safety following his illegal check on Darnell Nurse. His sentence for his action: a five-game suspension.

For those who missed it, during last night’s match-up between the Oilers and Maple Leafs, Reaves violently hit Nurse in the head with his shoulder early in the second period.

In addition to the severe contact to the head, Nurse was cut on the play and seemed truly lost on the ice in the moments that followed. He had to be assisted by the team’s medical team.

Not a pretty sight!

On the play, the Leafs’ forward received a game misconduct and therefore did not finish the game

For his part, Nurse had to leave the ice with the help of the team’s caretakers, but on his skates, and was unable to return to the game afterwards. We have no details yet on his injury.

The Oilers recalled defenseman Josh Brown earlier today.

It seems to me that five games for this gesture is not a lot.

Especially since Ryan Reaves is a repeat offender. This is already his fourth career suspension, including one for attempted injury and one for a blow to the head.

The most recent dates back to the 2021 playoffs, when he put his knee on the neck and head of Colorado Avalanche player Ryan Graves, earning a two-game suspension for the gesture.

The year before, still in the playoffs, he gave Tyler Motte of the Vancouver Canucks a taste of his medicine with a violent blow to the head, not unlike the one he took last night.

The problem is that the National Hockey League doesn’t consider a player to be a repeat offender after an eighteen-month suspension-free period. And yet, he’s a dangerous individual who has no place in the National Line.

Hockey is a violent sport and I like it that way. A good body check or even a good fight is an integral part of hockey, and we mustn’t let that change, but Ryan Reaves isn’t a goon, he’s a bully.

He’s the kind of player whose main reason for being on the ice is to hurt his opponents, not to score goals.

Once again, we see that the NHL doesn’t protect its players, and ridiculous suspensions aren’t going to make them think twice about such actions.

Especially since, in comparison, the loss of Darnell Nurse will be much heavier for the Oilers than that of the Leafs’ fourth-line forward.

I don’t know how many games Reaves should have been suspended, ten, fifteen, twenty? What are we waiting for? For a player like Reeves to end a star player’s career before reacting?

What’s clear is that until the League puts its pants on to protect its players effectively, teams will always need a goon to do the job.


Overtime

– Fowler is not happy.

– The Lions are doing well!

– First pick to the Dallas Wings.

– Big weekend in Judo for Canada.

This content was created with the help of AI.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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