An enforcer’s history: Why adding Ryan Reaves makes a lot of sense

Ryan Reaves has a reputation as one of the best fighters in the NHL.  He is feared throughout the NHL and no player in his right mind will choose to take him on.  That’s precisely why the New York Rangers traded for him.  We shouldn’t expect to see him fight very often, but he will be in the lineup a lot, especially against teams that enjoyed pushing the Blueshirts around.

If one thing is clear, Reaves is very happy to be here.

The interesting thing about Reaves is that once his reputation was established,  how few fights he has actually had in the last several years.  Reaves started his NHL career in 2010-11 with the St. Louis Blues.  He played seven seasons in St. Louis before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he played 58 games before being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights. He was in Vegas for three full seasons.

In 11 seasons in the NHL, Reaves has had 70 fights during the regular season.  Add in five fights during the preseason (none since 2014-15) and two fights in the playoffs.   Here are Reaves’ fight totals by year (courtesy of hockeyfights.com):

• 2010-11:  8 fights
• 2011-12: 12 fights
• 2012-13: 7 fights
• 2013-14: 10 fights
• 2014-15: 8 fights
• 2015-16: 4 fights
• 2016-17: 6 fights
• 2017-18: 6 fights
• 2018-19: 3 fights
• 2019-20: 3 fights
• 2020-21: 3 fights

His favorite dance partner has been ex-Ranger Cody McLeod with five fights. He’s fought a some players three times including Jared Boll, Brandon Bollig and Deryk Engelland.  He has fought both Foligno brothers and he has taken on Tom Wilson twice.

What’s interesting is that he has had only three fights in each of the the last three seasons including bouts with heavyweights Ross Johnston and Nicolas Deslauriers.  Compare those nine fights for Reaves over three years to Brendan Smith who had 12 fights in that time and Brendan Lemieux who had 19 fights.

Against Tom Wilson

One reason that Ryan Reaves is a Ranger is Tom Wilson.  While he could take on Wilson in the Rangers’ first game of the season, don’t be surprised if Wilson tries to avoid a confrontation.

The two have tangled twice, but not since November 2014.  They had their first fight a year earlier, in November 2013 in Washington.  Wilson was a rookie and what better way to impress than by taking on such a fierce fighter.

It was more of a wrestling match than a fight and Wilson was certainly the aggressor.  You have to give Wilson credit for going after Reaves.

Their second fight, on November 2014 was a clear decision for Reaves.

There is a lot of bad blood between the two players.  On December 4, 2018 in a game in Washington, Reaves hit Wilson twice on one shift.

Later in the game, Reaves simply buried Wilson with a blindside hit.

Reaves was given a five minute major and a game misconduct, but there was no further discipline.

If you want to see a history of Reaves and Wilson, click here to check out a video from Sportsnet.

 Against the Rangers

He has had two fights against Rangers players.  In a game between the Blues and Rangers at Madison Square Garden on November 3, 2014 he took on Dylan McIlrath in what was McIlrath’s only game that season in the NHL.  Hockeyfights.com voters called the fight a win for Reaves.

The latest bout featured Reaves vs. Adam McQuaid on January 8, 2019 in Las Vegas.   This one was more one-sided as Reaves got the better of the two.  Again, voters felt that Reaves had won this fight.

There’s no doubt about it, when it comes to fighting, Ryan Reaves is one of the best in the business.

It’s not just fighting

As you could see from his hits on Tom Wilson, its not just fighting that makes Reaves an imposing figure on the ice. However, you have to questions his judgment and timing.  Reaves has been suspended in the playoffs for two straight years.

In September 2020, in the seventh game of the Golden Knights series against the Vancouver Canucks, Reaves hit Tyler Motte.

To take a five minute major late in the second period of a scoreless Game Seven has to be a bad move and Reaves was lucky that the Vegas defense held and they went on to win 3-0.  Reaves was suspended for the first game of the Western Conference Final against Dallas.

Last season he was suspended for two playoff games after this scrum with Colorado defenseman Ryan Graves in the first game of their Second Round series.

For Vegas fans, Reaves was retaliating against Graves who had injured Mattias Janmark with a late, hard hit, knocking him out of the game.  When Graves wouldn’t fight Reaves, he knocked him down and Reaves knelt on his neck and pulled off his helmet including some of Graves’ hair.

The two game suspension was for unsportsmanlike conduct.  It didn’t help that the Avalanche were up 6-1 in an embarrassing loss for Vegas.  It is worth noting that the Golden Knights came back to win the series in six games.

That’s the value

With fewer players willing to tangle with Reaves (for good reason), he seems to be taking out his aggression by throwing the body.  He was 18th in the NHL with 141 hits last season, but he led all NHL players (35 games or more) with 23.02 hits per 60 minutes of ice time.  That was the most by far of any NHL player.  Brendan Lemieux was the only Ranger with over 10 hits per 60 minutes with 13.17.

Looking at the top 25 seasons of the most hits per 60 minutes seasons since 2010, Reaves  has eight of them.   The only player to compare is Matt Martin of the Islanders, also with eight season.  The only Ranger to crack the top 25 was Tanner Glass in 2015-16.

In 11 NHL seasons, Reaves has topped the 230 hits mark in a season five times. The only Rangers to hit that mark in he last 11 years have been Brian Boyle and Ryan Callahan.  He topped the 300 hits mark for the first time in 2018-19 and again in 2019-20.

And that’s why we will be seeing a lot of Ryan Reaves in the Rangers lineup this season.  It’s not the fights, it’s the fact that he delivers bone crushing hits and no one is willing to fight him when he does it.

Chris Drury admitted as much last week, saying  “We think Ryan is a good player who can do a lot of things… It wasn’t a reaction to one thing… Truth be told, we tried to get Ryan three years ago… His size, his strength, he’s physical on the walls. We think he’s a good fit.”

He also explained the one year extension that they gave to the 35 year old forward.  “We just wanted him for another year. It’s pretty simple. We think he’s going to be good in our room and a valuable piece to what we’re doing.”

In Ryan Reaves, the Rangers have gotten what they didn’t get from Micheal Haley and Cody McLeod.  They got a genuine physical player whose very presence will prevent other teams from taking liberties with the Rangers’ finesse players.

The Rangers haven’t had a player like this since the days of Joe Kocur and Colton Orr. With those kind of players it is the fear factor that works, not the willingness to drop the gloves. It’s the very definition of being hard to play against.