Photo credit: Maple Leafs on Twitter/X

Maple Leafs winger Ryan Reaves wasted no time in dispatching of Ottawa’s Donovan Sebrango during 2nd period fight in last night’s pre-season opener.

Reaves has been one of the league’s most feared enforcers for more than a decade, and his 1072 penalty minutes in 877 NHL games are evidence of the fact that he takes no prisoners.

Last night, Reaves locked horns with Sebrango during the second period of the Leafs’ pre-season opener against Ottawa, and it became very clear to Sebrango very quickly that he had made a grave mistake in obliging Reaves in a scrap. In fact, it took Reaves only seconds to dispatch of the 22-year-old Sens defenseman.

Granted it’s only pre-season action and doesn’t exactly mean very much now, but over the next few weeks, Reaves will be battling for a roster spot with the Leafs, and every time he drops the gloves, he shows the value that he has to the organization, which goes well beyond what he does when the puck is on his stick.

Reaves will be counted on to play hard from whistle to whistle in a depth role again this season, banging bodies, getting in hard on the forecheck and deterring pests from behaving inappropriately towards the stars in Toronto. Craig Berube, being a former enforcer himself, knows first hand what the value of having someone like Ryan Reaves on the roster is.