Ryan Reaves speaks candidly about pressure he felt playing in Toronto

When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed veteran enforcer Ryan Reaves to a three-year contract in the summer of 2023, it felt like it was going to go one of two ways. Either the hearsay of his dressing room impact would prove to be true and help spur an on-ice culture that the team had been chasing for years, or that same hearsay would have a marginal impact and wouldn’t make up for Reaves’ shortcomings as a player.

The tenure started off with the former, when Reaves dropped the gloves in each of his first two games as a Maple Leaf, but following a slew of poor play and injuries, it drifted towards the latter. And with only 35 games played with the Maple Leafs, with two assists in that time and no playing time in the playoffs, that’s ultimately how it ended.

Reaves was recently traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for 24-year-old defenceman Henry Thrun, and told media following the trade that he certainly felt the weight of the market when things weren’t going well.

“There is for sure,” Reaves told reporters when asked if there was more pressure playing in Toronto. “I think the first year I experienced it more, I started the season two years ago very well, and then things were just going really wrong for me, and all of a sudden the whole city wanted me out of there. I don’t think you see that in other organizations.”

The departure of Mitch Marner for the Vegas Golden Knights has sparked a discussion about playing in Toronto, the pressures that come with it, and who thrives under it versus who can’t handle it. The reality is, this is a team that’s widely considered to be the hockey mecca of the world, and when you combine that with a passionate fanbase that has yearned for any sort of success since their last Stanley Cup in 1967, the temperature is going to be hotter when things aren’t going well.

This came to fruition in the playoffs, when the Maple Leafs dropped Game 5 and Game 7 of the second round to the Florida Panthers at home. Reaves didn’t suit up for any of those games, but he commented on the on-and-off atmosphere of Scotiabank Arena during the postseason, drawing from his experience in the first round of the 2023-24 playoffs against the Boston Bruins.

“The ups and downs of the fans in the playoffs, I think,” Reaves said when asked if anything surprised him about playing in Toronto. “The arena could have been absolutely rocking at one point, and dead silent at other points. I think that surprised me a little bit, but passionate fans are going to be passionate fans.”

Reaves admitted in his media availability that by the end of last season, both he and general manager Brad Treliving had mutually agreed that there wasn’t much of a fit going forward. While the Sharks aren’t close to competing for a Cup, the trade will allow Reaves to fulfill a veteran role on an extremely young team in a market where the pressure won’t be nearly as intense.