Forget about Reaves, the Maple Leafs actually got tougher
It's Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi, not a 36-year-old goon, who are going to deliver a style of play that just might get the Leafs over the hump
Newly minted Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving looked at the roster of his team and found too many guys who were dying of seriousness. So he went out and signed Ryan Reaves to a three-year contract and now Reaves can scream out the starting lineup for the cameras and have regular witty banter with Scott Oake on Hockey Night in Canada. And occasionally beat up people, perhaps take a suspension or three and make the skill players on the Maple Leafs safe from players like himself.
Ryan Reaves is one of those guys who is great in the room. Unfortunately, those guys refuse to stay in the room and insist on going out and playing the games, too. But it shouldn’t be too bad. Reaves will play eight to 10 minutes a game when he dresses – in the regular season only – and, in time, his contract will likely be buried in the minors. Unless, of course, his prophecy comes true about him becoming a legend in Toronto, something he came up with in his introductory news conference.
It's not that getting under contract an almost-37-year-old, one-dimensional goon was a bad signing. It was more of a nothing signing. The Ryan Reaves Clown Show™ will run its course in The Centre of the Hockey Universe™ and everyone will move on. This is not adding toughness to your team. Toughness is only valuable when that player can play and Reaves can’t. Opponents will see that and so will Maple Leaf fans.
The Reaves signing came on the first day of free agency, when the team lost more talent than it gained. Treliving’s first moves were panned, but he assured the masses that the Leafs have the rest of the summer to form their roster. Then it took him only one more day to find a commodity the Leafs have been seeking the past five years – guys who are tough and can play hockey.
On Day 2 of the madness, Treliving really went to work, signing Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year deal worth $5.5 million and Max Domi to a one-year pact worth $3 million. Bertuzzi figures to slot in as a replacement for the departed Michael Bunting, the left winger on the top line with Auston Matthews in the middle and Mitch Marner on the right. Domi could slide in on the left side of the second line with John Tavares at centre and William Nylander patrolling the right wing. He can also take some draws, but it’s unlikely he’ll be a full-time centre.
Now, let’s talk about the toughness thing. Of course, neither Bertuzzi nor Domi is considered a classic tough guy. They’re both on the small side and aren’t going to win too many front-net battles with 225-pound defencemen. But with both of them, it’s the willingness to enter the battle and play a physical game, combined with a decent amount of skill and an abundance of grit, that defines their toughness. And this is precisely what the Leafs have lacked in recent years as they have searched for an identity. They either had skill players who were unequipped or unwilling to enter the fray when things got greasy, or the players they did have who were willing – i.e. Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Clifford – could no longer be counted upon to contribute on the ice.
Bertuzzi, in particular, is betting on himself that likely being slightly underpaid on a one-year deal in the highest-profile hockey market in the world will bring out the best in him and he’ll earn a big-money, long-term contract, either with the Maple Leafs or someone else. He’s smart and crafty, can produce offence and generally make life miserable for his opponents when he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. If you were trying to assemble the kind of player for which the Leafs have had a screaming need during their time as a Stanley Cup contender, it’s likely he would look an awful lot like Tyler Bertuzzi.
Domi, on the other hand, has come to the point in his career when he’s a hired gun who is probably going to play out the rest of his career on short-term deals, which is fine because teams seem to keep wanting him in their lineup. The 2023-24 Maple Leafs will be Domi’s sixth in the past four years and the seventh of his nine-year career. His toughness might be a little overstated because of his bloodlines, - actually, that’s probably accurate for both players, since Bertuzzi is the nephew of former NHLer Todd - but Domi is a sneaky-dirty guy who, like his father, is utterly fearless when it comes to jumping into the trenches.
The Leafs GM still has a lot of work to do, and most of it surrounds goaltender Matt Murray. Treliving declined the opportunity to buy Murray out during the first buyout window, but there is a second one later this month, provided a player on the Leafs goes to arbitration. There is a period of three days after a settlement or award where the team has another buyout window. Goalie Ilya Samsonov is the only Maple Leafs player eligible for arbitration, so it looks as though he’ll go through that process.
So, are the Maple Leafs any better today than they were prior to free agency? Undoubtedly. If they can’t go far into the playoffs with this roster, then they’ll have to go back and try to figure it out. Again. But they are most definitely a tougher, grittier and more difficult-to-beat opponent, and that has nothing to do with Ryan Reaves.
Excellent stuff as usual Ken!