Leafs and Oilers Players Break Their Silence on Ryan Reaves' 5-Game Suspension
After Ryan Reaves was suspended for his illegal hit on Darnell Nurse, both Maple Leafs and Oilers players broke their silence about the situation.
During Saturday's game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ryan Reaves leveled Darnell Nurse with an illegal hit to the head. Reaves was given a match penalty, while Nurse left with an injury.
After trying to smooth things over, Reaves had to answer to Player Safety.
They handed him a five-game suspension on Sunday for his hit, and even gave a thorough explanation into the nature of the punishment. It was a scary incident and hopefully, Nurse has no long-term effects.
After all that has settled, the teammates of both players are now coming out to speak on the hit. In the case of Reaves, his teammates were very supportive of their enforcer and knew better than anyone that Reaves was vicious, but not malicious.
Toronto Maple Leafs Response
Bobby McMann, who scored two goals in Toronto's win over Edmonton, also spoke highly of his teammate and talked about how the game sometimes moves too fast to react accordingly:
Mitch Marner, who scored the overtime winner also commented on the situation:
The NHL did explain that Reaves could have done things differently, but McMann has a good point. Sometimes these split-second decisions are lost in the shuffle when you're focused elsewhere, such as finishing a check and it was truly unfortunate that Nurse got hurt.
Edmonton Oilers Response
There were some Oilers who didn't agree as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Adam Henrique, and head coach Kris Knoblauch all chimed in:
Long-time Oilers player Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also chimed in on the hit calling it 'dangerous':
Head coach Kris Knoblauch was just focused on the health and well-being of his veteran defenseman, eschewing any comments about Reaves' actions.
It's unknown the status of Nurse at this moment, but all we can hope is he's back sooner rather than later.
