The Toronto Maple Leafs have been without Ryan Reaves since before Christmas as he left his last game on December 14th early with a knee injury. Now it seems as though the team is deliberately holding him back from returning despite the fact that he is fully recovered. <h2>Reaves Updates Health Status While Discussing Playing Time With Leafs</h2> Even when he was a regular in the Leafs lineup, Reaves was getting very limited ice time. In 21 appearances this year he averaged just 7:20 of time on ice. However, the veteran enforcer appears to be eager to return to the lineup as he recently revealed that he has been healthy enough to play for weeks. <q>Yeah, I've been ready for a couple weeks now.</q> Despite this, the team has kept him on injured reserve, effective healthy scratching him every game without actually having to go through the formality. <q>Ryan Reaves is calm, polite and professional when discussing his run of scratches. As the Leafs fourth-liner continues to wait for his chance to play again, Reaves insists that he's healthy and raring to go. (By @lukefoxjukebox)</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1749190251967562164'> </a></blockquote></div> This very well could be true. It is possible that Brad Treliving and the Leafs are trying to figure out what to do with him as he sits in limbo on IR. After all, Reaves has been arguably one of the worst players in the entire league this season. He has just one goal in 21 contests for the Leafs and has been a -11. Outside of fights in his first two games with the team, he hasn't provided much of anything. <q>At five-on-five with Reaves on the ice, the Leafs have been outscored 13-2 and own 37.1% of the expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick.</q> Reaves future with the team is certainly at risk, especially now that this information has gone public. This seems to be a move intended to force Brad Treliving to do something with him. It very well could have him being placed on waivers though. He likely would not be claimed so it would be interesting to see whether or not he would report to the AHL Marlies. As seen on <a href='https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2827667?fbclid=IwAR16h9z4t6X9YUJdjrNud5u2_1RcuvYBDrCXRV6_WgPmPhwq3oqT90ntZqc' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Leafs' Reaves: 'I definitely hate' constant scratches</a>