Michael Pezzetta on dropping the gloves with Ryan Reaves: ‘He got the upper hand in those fights’

The Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t make much noise on Day 1 of free agency. In fact, they only made one noise, which was the signing of Michael Pezzetta to a two-year contract. And, rest assured, that noise is loud and excited to come play for his hometown team.

We hear a variation of this story every summer. The Maple Leafs bring in somebody from the GTA, they talk about how excited they are to come home and play for their childhood team, the fans fall in love, and that relationship goes in one of two directions when the season starts, depending on how they play. At any rate, Pezzetta has been very vocal about how excited he is to come home.

“My agent was talking to Toronto come free agency,” Pezzetta told the JD Bunkis podcast. “It happened fast, they had some chats about what was going on and what made sense for them, and us, and I think for me, once I found out I had the opportunity to go there, it was kinda hard to pass up on that. Being a hometown kid, it’s been a dream to put that sweater on my whole life, so, definitely hard to walk away from that.”

Pezzetta might not be a full-time player for the Leafs this season, but he’s certainly going to prepare for the season as if he is, and the rule of thumb with Leafs fans is that if you leave it all out on the ice every night, you won’t have trouble winning them over.

“I wear my heart on my sleeve, and when I go out there, I want to win. I’m competitive, that’s in my DNA,” Pezzetta said. “I worked for my spot and every day I’m fighting to keep my spot. So that intensity comes from that and wanting to win. When you get a win, you get to have fun with your friends, your teammates, and enjoy big moments. So, I think that’s the joy in the game, but it starts with the intensity and then results in hopefully some joy.”

If Pezzetta is a regular member of the Leafs, you can bet that he’ll drop the gloves every now and then. He may not have brought much in the form of offensive production, but he knows how to inject some life into his team even if it’s not by hitting the back of the net. He referenced fights he had against current Maple Leaf Ryan Reaves when he was playing for Montreal and admitted that Reaves is one of the toughest fights he’s had.

“He’s a really technical fighter, both times he got the upper hand in those fights,” Pezzetta said of his fights with Reaves. “He’s definitely a good fighter, he’s been doing it for so long, and it’s hard to fight guys who have been doing it for a while because they’re just a lot more technical than myself. He definitely stacks up close to the top, strong guy, he’s a guy I respect a lot, he’s gone through it, he’s played a lot of games and he’s stuck around for a long time, so, lots of respect for guys like that.”

You can listen to the full interview here: