The Wild acquired veteran winger Ryan Reaves back in November, and it appears that they don’t want his addition to just be a short-term one. Instead, it’s believed that there is mutual interest in signing the pending UFA to a contract extension, report Joe Smith, Michael Russo, and Shayna Goldman of The Athletic (subscription link).
The 36-year-old was more productive than usual with Minnesota, potting five goals and ten assists in 61 games following the swap, matching the second-highest point output of his career. Of course, Reaves is best known for his physicality as he added 152 hits, giving their fourth line a much tougher look. Reaves also suited up in all six playoff games, picking up 21 hits and 14 penalty minutes.
Even though there appears to be interest in an extension, it’s far from a guarantee that they’ll be able to come to one. Reaves’ expiring deal carries a $1.75MM cap charge and while the Wild were able to afford that this season, they won’t be able to next year.
The dead cap charges for the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter increase by $1MM each next season while extensions to Matt Boldy, Frederick Gaudreau, and Marcus Johansson are adding nearly $8MM more to their payroll. As things stand, they have a little over $8MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, with six or seven roster spots to fill including a new deal for pending RFA netminder Filip Gustavsson.
Accordingly, paying a high premium for a fourth liner, or any premium at all, really, is a luxury that Minnesota can’t afford as things stand. Meanwhile, there’s a very good chance that will be Reaves’ last contract so he’ll likely be looking for as much money as possible and perhaps a second year on the deal. With that in mind, it certainly looks like the Wild will need to create some cap space before realistically trying to keep the veteran in the fold.