VANCOUVER — Most of Ryan Reaves‘ Toronto Maple Leafs teammates have long showered and changed into their street clothes.
Some are already picking at the generous smorgasbord of fresh, delicious-looking Pacific Ocean sushi and sashimi displayed for the players’ late lunch on multiple tables outside the dressing room (heavy on the toro, light on the California rolls).
And then there’s Reaves, peeling off his gear and dripping with sweat after a longer practice session than the Leafs. First the hockey pads, then the high-tech, hinged knee braces strapped to each leg.
The braces have been a staple long before Reaves’ recent injury, though.
“I have very loose knees. I’ve torn both knees, like, a ton of times, and I just don’t feel comfortable on the ice without them anymore,” Reaves tells Sportsnet.
“I’ve tried taking them off, and my knees are so loose that when I cut, like, to get out of bed the next morning, sometimes they pop out. So, keep ’em on.
“I wouldn’t even practice without them.”
Today is Friday, a practice day before the Maple Leafs will face a Vancouver Canucks squad shot out of cannon hard and fast. But every day is a practice day for the muscle-bound Reaves — GM Brad Treliving’s eyebrow-raising, $4.05-million summertime signing — who hasn’t dressed for a game in five weeks and counting.
Reaves celebrated his 37th birthday by missing his 17th consecutive game since catching a rut and popping out a kneecap in an awkward crash into the boards.
More sweating and skating in silence.
The noisy fourth-liner’s biceps-flexing, snot-promising, Corey Perry–chirping, gloves-dropping early days as a Maple Leaf feel miles away.
Toronto’s roster lists Reaves on injured reserve, but sitting alone in his stall Friday, the player insists he’s healthy and raring to go.
“Yeah, I’ve been ready for a couple weeks now,” says Reaves, careful not to theorize why he can’t get in the lineup.
“That’s a question for them. I am not in those rooms, in those conversations. I’m not going to speculate anything. Just stay ready. And if I get called upon, I do. If I don’t, I get my work in.”
When Sheldon Keefe is asked what Reaves — still under contract for two-and-a-half more seasons — can do to play hockey for the Leafs again, the coach’s answer lasts nearly three minutes.
“Just keep working. Stay ready. That’s a big part of it. He’s working his way through an injury as well to really get back to show… it’s hard to figure when’s the right time to test him in a game,” Keefe begins. “With Reavo, we have a pretty good sense of who he is and what he can bring to our team. We’ve got some questions with these young guys.”
Reaves isn’t alone on the outside, of course. Thirteenth forward Nick Robertson, 22, has as many goals as $5.5-million man Tyler Bertuzzi but is living in limbo, too.
Desperate to find support wingers they can trust defensively — and to win some games — the Maple Leafs are jostling relatively unproven talents like Pontus Holmberg, Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann around the lineup, asking Reaves (and Robertson) to stay patient.
Keefe says he and Treliving discuss the lineup daily. Sometimes multiple times.
“Just gotta stay ready. That’s just the reality of it. There’s not a lot that they can do at this point while not playing; it’s more what’s happening around them,” Keefe explains. “And for some players, it doesn’t meet their timelines.”
Reaves is calm and polite, matter-of-fact and professional when discussing his run of healthy scratches — a delicate and humbling topic for a proud veteran of 849 games. While he chooses his words carefully, his burning desire to play seeps through.
“I mean, it’s not fun. Nobody likes watching hockey when your team’s going out to battle. I definitely hate it. But there’s nothing really more I can do. I don’t know exactly what the situation is or what’s going to happen. I guess just stay patient and find out,” Reaves says.
“I talked to my agents. I mean, I’ve been through this before. I’ve had highs and lows in my career before. I’d say probably this is one of the tougher ones. I guess just… it is what it is. You can only control what you can control. I don’t make the lineup, and I don’t have any control over the roster.
“So, I can’t really sit here and speculate and bitch and moan over anything. Either stay patient to get in the lineup — or stay patient for whatever else is going to come.”
Reaves played just a dozen games for the New York Rangers last season before a run of scratches led to a trade to the Minnesota Wild and a better fit.
Trouble is, Reaves is older now. His contract is too long. And his stat line with the Leafs — one goal, two fights, and a minus-11 rating over 21 appearances — prohibits a trade.
Reaves isn’t a whiner. He’s a realist, a competitor.
And the bombastic role player sensed his tenuous grip on an everyday lineup spot way back in October, when the veteran noted how difficult Keefe’s training camp was.
“It’s hard,” Reaves said during pre-season.
“I was trying to steal people’s jobs, and now people are for sure trying to steal my job. So, I’m trying to hold on to it, trying to prove that I belong still, that I can still play. But, you know, that’s the business. As you get older, there’s always younger guys that make less than you that are that are coming up trying to take your job.”
Half of Reaves’ job was to lay hits, inject intimidation, and wear down the opposition in the O-zone. The other half was to liven the dressing-room culture, to let his swagger infect others, to play dressing-room DJ and pump up the fellas.
When the Maple Leafs win these days, someone in the room cues up an old G-Unit banger, “I Like the Way She Do It,” to celebrate at full volume. Reaves didn’t pick the song.
“Wasn’t me,” he says. “Good track, though.”
