Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves is set to have a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, but the suspension will be capped at a maximum of five games for his vicious hit on Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the hearing isn’t in-person, meaning any supplemental discipline won’t go longer than five-games. Per the league rules, suspensions of five games or more are only handed out during in-person hearings.
Reaves was handed a five-minute match penalty Saturday night after he caught Nurse with a shoulder to the head. The Oilers defenceman had circled behind Edmonton’s net, looking to send a pass up the ice. As soon as he did, Reaves hit Nurse hard, with his shoulder meeting his head as the primary point of contact.
Nurse fell to the ice dazed, struggling to get his feet underneath him. He rose to his knees a moment later as blood pooled in his visor and dripped onto his jersey. The blue liner would leave the ice with assistance from Mattias Janmark and trainer T.D. Forss, and the Oilers quickly ruled him out with an upper-body injury.
Reaves reportedly went to the Oilers’ locker room for a face-to-face apology during the third period of the game of which he was ejected. Nurse, meanwhile, was apparently walking around and joking with trainers, a good sign after such a scary moment.
After the game, Oilers forward Adam Henrique said the hit was avoidable.
“The game is fast and… I mean just avoiding the hit, we’re professional athletes,” said Henrique, who was in the Oilers’ defensive zone when the hit was laid. “We’re able to make those decisions quick in our head, and you know when a guy in vulnerable, or in a bad spot, those sorts of things, around the ice. It’s one you don’t want to see.”
Reaves is no stranger to the league’s department of player safety. The veteran tough-guy has been suspended three times for a total of six games, while fined on two other occasions. Given his history as a repeat offender and the severity of the hit, it’s likely he will face a multi-game suspension.
His first suspension game in February 2016 when he was suspended for boarding San Jose Sharks defenceman Matt Tennyson, while his second came during the 2020 playoffs for an illegal hit to the head of Vancouver Canucks forward Tyler Motte. His most recent was also in the playoffs, this time in 2021, when he was banned for two games for roughing Colorado Avalanche defenceman Ryan Graves.
There was no update Sunday on the status of Nurse. The Oilers play Monday night against the Montreal Canadiens and on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators.
