Well, if Reaves has already sent Dubinsky to hospital there's a decent chance he's suspended for at least part of Caps series...and had incurred a major penalty in the process, which I'm sure plays well into playoff success.
Besides that, also missing the point here - Reaves' "damage" or any havoc he's wrecking in these scenarios is all reactionary and retaliatory, not preventative..and after the fact that our own players were injured.
Does Reaves keep the Sens from mugging Sid? No. What they're doing to him is not cheapshotting him as much as it's obstructing him. So do we send Reaves out to lurch onto Bobby Ryan in retaliation? If I'm Ottawa I take that tradeoff every day of the week and twice on Sunday. In fact, any scenario whereby Reaves is on the ice out for blood is a scenario where the Pens are off their game....and exactly what the opponent would want.
We are arguing that the threat (sort of like Mutual Assured Destruction) does have a deterring effect.
You refuse to see that this is what we are arguing.
We may be wrong, but it helps if you can acknowledge that this is our point.