Toronto Maple Leafs superstar center Auston Matthews took the ice for the club's optional morning skate on Saturday. But when will he return to game action? Ryan Reaves wanted to talk about the five-game suspension he received from the NHL for his on Darnell Nurse, but the Toronto Maple Leafs didn't allow him to. The 37-year-old was handed five games from the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Sunday, a day after Reaves' collision with Nurse, which left the Edmonton Oilers defenseman bloodied and needing to leave the game. When the forward entered the locker room following practice on Tuesday, reporters confronted Reaves, who seemed eager to speak about the suspension. However, the Maple Leafs' media relations team shut it down, saying he's not speaking today. Reaves skated as a defenseman alongside Simon Benoit and stayed out late for extra work. He can't return to the Maple Leafs lineup until Dec. 4, when Toronto hosts the Nashville Predators. This isn't the first time Reaves has wanted to speak about his status in the lineup. While on long-term injured reserve last season because of a knee injury, Reaves told Sportsnet's Luke Fox [https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/i-definitely-hate-it-maple-leafs-reaves-discusses-string-of-healthy-scratches/] that he had been ready to return to the Maple Leafs' lineup for several weeks. "I mean, it's not fun. Nobody likes watching hockey when your team's going out to battle. I definitely hate it. But there's nothing really more I can do. I don't know exactly what the situation is or what's going to happen. I guess just stay patient and find out," Reaves told Fox in January. But even when he's out of the lineup, Reaves can be seen hyping his teammates before games. "Yeah, Reavo's a great team guy. We all know that. Been around a long time and he's great to have on a team, I'll tell you that," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. "I put him on D today, just to get 8D in there. I think it's good for him, too. A lot more puck touches back there and moving the puck and things like that, and we've got to keep him ready for when he's back." Reaves has been suspended three times in his career, two of which came after hits to his opponent's head. He has also been fined twice by the league's Department of Player Safety. Five games is the maximum allowable suspension that the NHL can give during a phone hearing. "First of all, you never want to see anybody injured and it was one of those where there's no doubt in my mind, there's no intent on Ryan's part. He's going in to make a hit. It's a hockey play that goes wrong, right?" Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said on Tuesday. "It's, if you look, and there's been lots of talk, I know, but he leads with a stick. He's going in to forecheck, and there's contact that's made. It's unfortunate and we accept it. There was an earlier suspension with (Tanner) Jeannot, I think, earlier in the week where we thought it was three games, maybe that, tying to that one. "I'm not going to sit here and bicker about the game here and there. Like I said, at no point do I think Ryan had any intent for that to happen. It didn't end up the way we wanted to, and I understand the league's position." Reaves has appeared in 16 of Toronto's 19 games this season, registering one assist and averaging 7:51 of ice time in that span. The forward is in the second season of a three-year, $4.05 million deal he signed with the Maple Leafs on July 1, 2023.
