Yahoo Sports Oilers Get Update On Ryan Reaves Suspension
Commit the crime, and you'll do the time.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves will do the time after laying a dangerous hit on the Oilers' Darnell Nurse on Saturday night. The NHL Department Of Player Safety announced on Sunday that Reaves has been suspended for five games for an illegal check to the head.
Toronto’s Ryan Reaves has been suspended for five games for an illegal check to the head against Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse. https://t.co/GyVuA2TLmG
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) November 17, 2024
Reaves received a match penalty for the hit, ejecting him from the game. Nurse, dazed from the massive hit and bloodied on the play from an apparent cut from his visor, was held in concussion protocol and did not return from the game.
Thankfully, Nurse doesn't seem to have sustained any lasting injury from the hit, Jack Michaels and Elliotte Friedman reported that Nurse was walking around and joking with trainers in the dressing room after leaving the game. Due to the serious nature of head injuries, the Oilers will still have to monitor Nurse over the coming days, but it seems he's avoided a worst-case scenario.
Friedman also reported that Reaves visited the Oilers' locker room after the game to apologize to Nurse face-to-face.
No postgame update on Darnell Nurse; have to see how things evolve over next few days.
He was walking around and joking with trainers, per @EdmontonJack.
Ryan Reaves went towards Edmonton room for a face-to-face apology during the third period. We await the NHL's decision on…— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) November 17, 2024
Given that Reaves' hearing with the Department Of Player Safety was a phone hearing, his five-game suspension is the maximum the NHL could dole out under the circumstances.
Reaves' suspension is the third of the regular season to date, and the longest suspension for an on-ice play since Tom Wilson received six games for high-sticking -- or more accurately, whacking -- Noah Gregor in the face on March 20th.
It's the fourth and longest suspension of the 37-year-old Reaves' career, after receiving two games in the 2021 playoffs, one in the 2020 playoffs, and three games in 2016. Reaves' 1095 career penalty minutes are fifth-most among active players, behind Wilson, the Oilers' Corey Perry, Evgeni Malkin, and Matt Martin.
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