SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks traded some young blue line depth for a seasoned enforcer on Thursday, sending defenseman Henry Thrun to the Toronto Maple Leafs for tough guy forward Ryan Reaves.
The Sharks were expected to trade one of their defenseman after signing Dmitry Orlov and John Klingberg as free agents and claiming Nick Leddy off waivers from the St. Louis Blues last week. The moves left the Sharks with eight defensemen, including Thrun, who would need to go through waivers to be sent to the AHL.
Reaves, 38, has been known as one of hockey’s premier fighters and bigger personalities during his NHL career. In a combined 912 games with the Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, and Maple Leafs, Reaves has 137 points (63 goals, 74 assists) and 1,100 penalty minutes.
The Sharks might have felt like they needed a true enforcer like Reaves to help ensure other teams do not take liberties with their young star forwards, such as Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund. Barclay Goodrow played that role for the Sharks last season, collecting seven fighting majors, but also averaged nearly 14 minutes in ice time and has other aspects to his game.
Reaves, listed at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, had two assists in 35 games with the Leafs last season, averaging 7:48 in ice time per game. He also had a goal in three games with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL, and is entering the final year of a three-year, $4.05 million contract that carries a $1.35 million cap hit.
Reaves became expendable to the Leafs after they signed another enforcer, Michael Pezzetta, 27, last week. Toronto is believed to be working on another deal to acquire a top-six forward.
Reaves was with the New York Rangers from July 2021 to Nov. 2022, when Sharks general manager Mike Grier was a hockey operations advisor with the team.
“We’re excited to welcome Ryan to the organization,” Grier said in a statement. “He will bring energy, personality, physical play, and toughness to our group. He has been a part of many winning teams, and I witnessed firsthand the positive impact he can bring to a group when I was with the Rangers.”
Thrun is going into the final year of a two-year, $2 million deal. He is set to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next year, and could have remained under team control for several more seasons.
Thrun, 24, had mainly been used as a second- or third-pair defenseman by the Sharks since he was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 28, 2023. He appeared in 119 games with San Jose over three seasons, had 25 points, and averaged 18:44 in ice time. This past season, Thrun, a Harvard alum, appeared in 60 games, had 12 points, and averaged 17:31 of ice time.
Reaves was an unpopular player amongst Sharks fans earlier in his career when he was with the Golden Knights from 2018 to 2021. His battles, verbal and otherwise, with ex-Sharks forward Evander Kane took on a life of their own, especially when the two teams met in the playoffs in 2018 and 2019.
Reaves, a fifth-round pick by the Blues in 2025, recently told the “Cam and Strick” podcast that he’d like to play another two years to reach 1,000 NHL games.
“I’d love to hold on for another two years, hit that mark and ride into the sunset,” Reaves said. “I don’t think I’ve got more than two years left, but the dream is always the Stanley Cup. When I first came into the league, I remember telling my wife, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if I hit 100 games?’ Then it was 200, then 500, and now I’m thinking maybe I chase 1,000.
“For a player who plays like me, that’d be a pretty cool accomplishment. So, Stanley Cup and 1,000 games, in that order.”
The Sharks, a +50,000 wager to win the Cup this upcoming season, per DraftKings, haven’t had a genuine enforcer on their roster for the past two seasons.
The last was winger Jonah Gadjovich, who was claimed off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks in October 2021, and remained with the team for two seasons, accumulating a combined 19 fights in that time. He was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Sharks in 2023, later joined the Florida Panthers, and has now won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the team.
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Originally Published: July 10, 2025 at 7:14 PM PDT
