Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves is serving a five-game suspension for a head shot hit he issued on Edmonton Oilers blueliner Darnell Nurse over the weekend.
Reavo gets the boot from the game after this hit on Nurse 😳
pic.twitter.com/mpEQGp8jYK— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) November 17, 2024
While both teams have found replacements for their sidelined players, the fallout from the incident seems just to be getting started.
Returning to the ice for the first time since the hit, Nurse didn’t hold back when sharing his thoughts on Reaves’ suspension during Thursday’s post-practice media availability.
“There are certain guys in the league that, each shift, they’re trying to inflict pain,” Nurse told reporters. “I think it’s pretty obvious what was going on there.”
The 29-year-old also emphasized that Reaves targeted his head.
“Even if you put yourself in a bad spot, there’s lots of body on a 6-foot-4 hockey player to hit, and not one piece was touched other than my head,” he added.
Nurse’s quotes were later picked up by Bardown, who featured them in an Instagram post.
Meanwhile, Ryan’s brother, Jordan Reaves, wasn’t about to let Nurse’s comments slide. The pro football player took to Instagram to defend his sibling, firing off in the comments section under the post yesterday.
“You could tell that looking at your skates…” the CFL veteran wrote, suggesting Nurse should’ve been more aware of his surroundings.
@bardown/Instagram
In another comment, he added, “Keep ya head up around the net—rule #1 when you start hittin… wild,” shifting the blame back to Nurse for skating with his head down.
It’s not all hard feelings, though. Nurse, who is expected to return to play on Saturday, recently told The Athletic that the veteran Leafs forward reached out to him last weekend.
“He came after and apologized,” Nurse explained. “In situations like that, there’s definitely an onus on the player with the puck to be aware of where everyone else is on the ice.”
As for Reaves, he has only served one game of his suspension so far. The 37-year-old is expected to return to the lineup when the Leafs take on the Nashville Predators at home on December 4.
The next time Toronto and Edmonton play each other is February 1. Time will tell if the bad blood carries over until then.