Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Ryan Reaves was suspended for five games for an illegal check to the head of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse during Saturday night’s game.
Reaves received a match penalty when he caught Nurse in the head with his shoulder in the second period. The defenseman was bloodied on the play and was tended to by a trainer for several minutes before he left the game.
The Oilers announced that Nurse wouldn’t return because of an upper-body injury.
The Maple Leafs went on to prevail 4-3 in overtime on a game-winning goal by Mitch Marner.
In detailing Reaves’ suspension on Sunday, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety said, ‘The head is clearly the main point of contact as Reaves’ shoulder makes direct and forceful contact with Nurse’s head and it is the head that absorbs the vast majority of the force.’
The department also said the head contact was avoidable, adding that Reaves mistimed his check and could have taken a different angle to hit through Nurse’s body.
Reaves will forfeit $35,156.25 in pay.
He had been suspended three previous times in his career for a total of six games, including one game for an illegal hit to the head in the 2020 playoffs.
His most recent suspension before Sunday was in the 2021 playoffs when Reaves, then with the Vegas Golden Knights, used his body weight to hold down an opponent on the ice during a scrum and ripped off his helmet. ‘During this scrum, both the officials and Reaves acknowledge that a chunk of Graves’ hair was pulled out by Reaves,’ the league said at the time when suspending him for two games.
He also was suspended for three games in 2016 for boarding.
NHL Player Safety also announced Sunday that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk was fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, for clipping the Florida Panthers’ Jesper Boqvist.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
