'My Hope Is We Can Get Him Back Here': What's Next Between The Maple Leafs And Ryan Reaves After Clearing Waivers

Reaves cleared waivers on Friday afternoon giving the Maple Leafs at least $1.15 million in cap space to work with ahead of the deadline.

After an unhinged NHL trade deadline, the Maple Leafs are happy they were able to keep Ryan Reaves.

The 38-year-old forward was placed on waivers by Toronto at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday in hopes that he'd clear, which would give the Maple Leafs extra cap flexibility entering the trade deadline.

He, predictably, cleared waivers on Friday afternoon and was assigned to the Toronto Marlies.

"I mean, that was a difficult conversation," Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said an hour and a half after the deadline. "Ryan's a true pro. This isn't goodbye, right? Ryan's still a big part of our locker room. He's part of the team. Those are hard conversations."

Although his statistics (zero goals and two assists in 35 games this season) scream unimpactful player, Reaves has been all but that with the Maple Leafs.

He's constantly helping his teammates, hyping them up outside of Toronto's dressing room even if he's a healthy scratch, and even helps plan team events off the ice. Reaves is the epitome of a great teammate.

Now, although the forward's been assigned to the Marlies, it doesn't mean he will join their team. During the 2022 season, the Maple Leafs sent Wayne Simmonds to the AHL but he didn't report.

When asked on Friday if Reaves would join the Marlies, Treliving gave the impression that it was still up in the air: "I'm going to speak with him later today. Him and I will get caught up," the GM said.

"We'll keep him going here, and my hope is we can get him back here sooner rather than later. But, obviously you've got to work within the guidelines there. But I'm glad that Ryan didn't go anywhere today."

Toronto made three moves at the deadline, acquiring Scott Laughton (50 percent retained) from the Philadelphia Flyers for Nikita Grebenkin and a 2027 conditional first-round pick.

They then added defenseman Brandon Carlo (15 percent retained) and a few picks from the Boston Bruins for Fraser Minten and their 2026 first-round pick.

To make room to fit both Laughton and Carlo in, Toronto sent Conor Timmins and Connor Dewar to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2025 fifth-round pick.

Reaves has one more year on his deal with the Maple Leafs at a $1.35 million cap hit. He signed the three-year, $4.05 million contract with Toronto in July 2023. The enforcer has scored four goals and four assists in 84 games since joining the club.

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