Ryan Reaves is now a member of the San Jose Sharks.

After a very quiet few days, late on Thursday night, the Leafs struck a deal with San Jose to deal the 38-year-old enforcer for 24-year-old depth blue liner Henry Thrun.

In total, Brad Treliving saved $350,000 in cap space by making this deal.

Another BT masterclass —if you will.

Obviously, that’s where the conversation started on the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take as Producer Vick filled in for Jay Rosehill as co-host. Honestly, you sort of knew the writing was on the wall for Reaves this summer, especially after hearing his comments about Mitch Marner the other day on the Cam & Strick podcast. Reaves actively sold Marner on playing for Vegas, and on top of that, he bragged him up after everything that transpired with the Leafs over the past few years. Yeah, that will do it. At any rate, Reaves was a consummate pro from day one. He never complained, he did his job and was a quality teammate. You can’t ask for much more than that.

After that, the birthday boy Zack Phillips stopped by from somewhere in Portugal for a Euro trip check-in. Spoiler: He fell asleep at the beach, and in the process, developed a sunburn in the only area he didn’t apply sunscreen: His eye lids. AMATEUR. At any rate, Zack weighed in on the Reaves trade as well as his comments regarding Marner earlier this week. In case you missed it, Reaves thinks Marner took extra heat in Toronto because he’s a hometown boy. Not the case at all. We all know that.

Then, we talked about a few NHL related things. Firstly, nothing has been made official just yet, but it sounds like NHL GMs voted in favour of keeping the decentralized draft format for next season. We both aren’t fans of this. That said, we agreed there are ways to clean it up after this year’s turbulentcy in Los Angeles. Additionally, according to multiple reports, a new provision in the CBA will allow each NHL team to place one 19-year-old CHL player in the AHL per season. Begins in 2026-27. 18-year-olds are NOT eligible. Easy WIN all around. Long time coming.

Lastly, we played another edition of TAKE IT or LEAF IT. We debated whether the Leafs will acquire a top-6 forward by October 1^st, if Nick Robertson will be on Toronto’s opening night roster, and if Morgan Rielly will play out the balance of his contract with the Maple Leafs.

Jay Rosehill will be back in the mix on Monday. Join us at 11 AM ET as we discuss the latest. Also, Utah Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong will drop by to dissect the Matias Maccelli trade.

You can subscribe to TheLeafsNation (TLN) YouTube channel HERE. Additionally, we’re available in podcast form, too —wherever you get your podcasts. While you’re at it, be sure to leave us a 5-star review!