Maple Leafs RW Ryan Reaves suspended five games by NHL

Toronto Maple Leafs right winger Ryan Reaves of Winnipeg, Manitoba was suspended five games on Sunday for a hit to the head of Edmonton Oilers’s defenseman Darnell Nurse on Saturday. Reaves was ejected from the game and given a five minute misconduct penalty. The Maple Leafs went on to win the game 4-3 in overtime, with Reaves receiving 15 minutes of penalties. This was the longest suspension during the 2024-25 National Hockey League regular season.

What happened to Nurse?

It appears Nurse received a concussion from the incident. According to Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, he is expected to be out five to 10 days. Nurse was dazed after the incident, and needed assistance getting to the locker room.

Oilers struggled defensively

At the time of the infraction, the Oilers were leading the Maple Leafs 2-1, and went on to lose the game by a goal. There is no doubt that Nurse has struggled mightily defensively for the Oilers over the last couple of years. However on this night it was Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl who were responsible for key Oiler giveaways that led to Maple Leafs goals. On the other Maple Leafs goal, Bobby McMann of Wainwright, Alberta was able to skate right by Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm (considered the Oilers’s top two defenseman) to put the Maple Leafs up 3-2 at the time.

Reaves’s previous suspensions

This is the fourth time Reaves was suspended for a National Hockey League infraction. The most notable suspension was two games for kneeling on the neck of Ryan Graves of the Colorado Avalanche during the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs while playing for the Vegas Golden Knights. At the time, Vegas coach Peter de Boer defended Reaves saying “he’s consistently, a clean, physical player” according to ESPN. Reaves was also suspended three games while with the St. Louis Blues for boarding Matt Tennyson of the San Jose Sharks in 2016, and one game for a hit to the head of Tyler Motte of the Vancouver Canucks during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs while playing for Vegas in Edmonton.