There is certainly a debate around whether or not he remains an asset in the NHL, but that hasn’t stopped Toronto Maple Leafs’ enforcer Ryan Reaves from playing in his 900th career NHL regular season game on Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars.
Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves is skating in his 900th career NHL game tonight.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) December 19, 2024
The 37-year-old who has suited up for six teams over his NHL career — including the Maple Leafs, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, Vegas Golden Knights, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues — has played the last 72 games with the Maple Leafs with four goals and seven points over that span.
Originally drafted by the Blues in the fifth round, 156th overall, in 2005, Reaves has been one of the more feared enforcers in the game since he debuted in 2010-11. Over that time, he’s accumulated 63 goals and 136 points in the 900 games played, including a career-high nine goals and 20 points in 80 games for the Golden Knights in 2018-19.
He’s also racked up 1,095 penalty minutes over that span, reaching as high as 126 in 2013-14 with the Blues.
Reaves has seen his role diminish over the past few seasons, but continues to be a strong personality for teams joining his team in the hallway before games and taking part and leading team events in each of his stops during his NHL journey.
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Reaves is the 563rd NHL player to reach 900 games played and just the 14th player from the 2005 NHL Draft to reach the milestone.
If nothing else, Reaves can hang his head on the fact that he has been one of the most consistent physical presences over the past 15 seasons. It’s a stat they haven’t always documented, however, in the time that they have, Reaves ranks seventh overall in hits with 3,032.
Signing with the Maple Leafs was part of a shift by the franchise to bring in a tougher, more physical presence to play alongside their stars like Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews and while he’s only suited up for 72 games over the past two seasons, his presence in the room has helped the team develop more of a hard-nosed mentality.
Even when Max Pacioretty signed this offseason with the Maple Leafs, he commented on what it means to have Reaves as a teammate again saying that his former Golden Knights’ teammate was one of the best guys to have around.
As for whether or not he can reach the 1,000-game plateau, that will depend on whether or not he can continue to play a strong role in an NHL lineup and what direction the league moves in.
