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Ryan Reaves

Injury Notes: Reaves, Bennett, Guentzel

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Despite suffering an injury on Wednesday night that forced him to be helped off the ice, New York Rangers free agent addition Ryan Reaves may not miss any regular season time. The grinder has not been practicing since the injury occurred, but head coach Gerard Gallant is optimistic that he could return by opening night. “I think it’s going to be close,” Gallant told Collin Stephenson on Newsday. “When we left the game, I said no, but… the last couple of days it’s going in the right direction… I can’t really say, but I think it’s going to be real close.” The Rangers prioritized adding grit and physicality this summer, adding Reaves, Barclay Goodrow, Sammy Blais, and Patrik Nemeth, so they hope to be able to roll out their full complement of toughness for Opening Night.

  • Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett missed the team’s preseason match-up on Saturday night as he has been placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol, the team announced. Depending on the context of Bennett’s absence, the two-way forward could miss more than just one game. The Panthers certainly hope that the physical center is good to go for the start of the season; Bennett was an excellent addition to the Florida roster at the deadline last season, recording 15 points in ten games while averaging a career-high 18:04 time on ice. As the Cats look to compete in the Atlantic Division this year, every game matters and a healthy Bennett is a difference-maker.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins expect to have Jake Guentzel back sooner rather than later from COVID Protocol. Head coach Mike Sullivan told The Athletic’s Rob Rossi that Guentzel is asymptomatic and going through the steps of the protocol. Though he has missed a week of practice, Guentzel will jump right back into the lineup if he is healthy. The 27-year-old has scored at a point-per-game pace over the past three years and will be relied on even more with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin injured.

New York Rangers Acquire, Extend Ryan Reaves

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July 31: The Rangers have announced the one-year extension for Reaves.  ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports that the deal is a true extension for Reaves, bringing him back for the 2022-23 season at the same $1.75MM cap number.

July 30: The Rangers not only acquired Reaves for this season, but are also working on a one-year extension according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Reaves is signed through 2021-22 at a $1.75MM cap hit, and Friedman expects the extension to come in around the same number.

July 29: The New York Rangers are adding some serious grit to their lineup. According to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, the team has acquired veteran grinder Ryan Reaves from the Vegas Golden Knights. The return heading to Vegas is a 2022 third-round pick.

The Rangers wanted to get bigger and more physical this off-season and they are certainly doing that. Reaves joins Barclay Goodrow, Sammy Blais, and Jarred Tinordi as recent additions who all play a hard-nosed, aggressive game. As the team battles through the difficult Metropolitan Division, they have added plenty of size and grit to complement their considerable skill.

However, Reaves in particular is pretty limited in what he brings to the team beyond hits, PIMs, and locker room presence. An old-fashioned grinder, Reaves is good for aggression and aggression only. Essentially a match-up player who sees limited ice time, Reaves is an expensive acquisition for the Rangers, both in his $1.75MM cap hit and the third-round pick required to land him.

Ryan Reaves Suspended Two Games

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The Department of Player Safety has decided on a two-game suspension for Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves. The suspension comes after Reaves was given a match penalty last night for his actions in the third period, kneeling on the head of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan Graves. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that this incident is retaliation for an earlier hit that Graves threw on Golden Knights’ forward Mattias Janmark, which knocked Janmark from the game. Reaves and the Golden Knights acknowledge that, angered by the earlier hit, he takes this opportunity to send a message to Graves as payback. And while some of the actions taken by Reaves could be sufficiently penalized by the on-ice officials, the totally of Reaves’ actions, combined with the game situation and the retribution involved in the play, necessitates supplementary discipline. 

Reaves has been suspended twice before, with the latest coming in late-2020. He has also earned two fines, meaning there were four previous incidents considered for this discipline. Graves did not suffer a serious injury on the play.

With the Golden Knights down after game one in the series, they’ll have to find someone else to add the physicality that Reaves brings. He’ll miss the next two while serving this latest ban.

Ryan Reaves To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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With the match penalty that was given to Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves in last night’s game for kneeling on the head of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan Graves comes an automatic review from the Department of Player Safety. The incident has risen to the level of supplementary discipline and Reaves will have a hearing with the league today. Of note, it does not appear to be an in-person hearing, meaning Reaves will not face a suspension greater than five games.

The incident occurred in a game that was already basically over, with Colorado holding a 6-1 lead in game one of the second-round matchup. Reaves first contacted Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer, which drew a scrum, with Graves falling to the ice. Reaves appeared to force his knee down onto Graves’ head and was given a match penalty for intent to injure and two roughing penalties. The result of the incident, which included several other penalized players, was a nine-minute powerplay for the Avalanche in the third period.

Notably, Graves did not suffer a serious injury on the play. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog believes that wasn’t for a lack of trying, telling the media including Peter Baugh of The Athletic that Reaves is “on a mission to go out there and hurt someone in the third. That’s what he does.” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar wasn’t quite as convinced, telling Baugh “I don’t think he’s out there trying to injure people on purpose” but suggested that the incident was “out of the context of the game” at that point.

Reaves was suspended in September of last year for a check to the head of Vancouver Canucks forward Tyler Motte. He was also suspended three games in 2016 for boarding Matt Tennyson, then of the San Jose Sharks.

Vegas Reassigns Cody Glass To AHL

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The Vegas Golden Knights were without Max Pacioretty, Tomas Nosek, and Ryan Reaves for their Game Six loss to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday and will likely be without at least Reaves for a crucial Game Seven on Friday after he and rookie Peyton Krebs landed on the league’s COVID Protocol list. Pacioretty and Nosek currently remain “game-time decisions”. Vegas called upon young Cody Glass to help fill the void on Wednesday and it was expected that he would remain in the lineup for as long as necessary.

Well, that might not be the case after all. Vegas has announced this evening that Glass has been demoted to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights in order to take part in their Pacific Division Final match-up. While this is a pivotal game for Henderson, down 1-0 in a best-of-three series, the Knights would not be prioritizing their farm team’s success over their own. The move indicates that Glass will not be in the lineup for Vegas on Friday, as the team would not put him on short rest if they had another choice.

How will Vegas fill the gap up front then if Reaves, Pacioretty, and Nosek are unable to go? Barring a recall of offset Glass’ reassignment, the team is actually without a healthy extra forward on the roster. This could imply that the Knights expect at least one of the injured trio to be available. The team could also employ a seven-defenseman lineup or could play defender Dylan Coghlan up front, as they have previously experimented with. Whatever the decision, the pressure is on head coach Peter DeBoer to field the right lineup to get a win or else risk another first-round upset this season. The first call that he has made is that he feels his options are all better than the 2017 No. 6 overall pick. Will it pay off?

Snapshots: Ullmark, Beaulieu, Reaves, DeAngelo

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While the Sabres aren’t expected to get a contract extension in place with Linus Ullmark today, they don’t intend to move him by today’s trade deadline, reports John Wawrow of the Associated Press (Twitter link).  Instead, the team remains hopeful that they’ll be able to work out a new deal with the netminder before free agency opens up this summer.  Ullmark has had a pretty successful year with Buffalo despite all of their struggles, posting a 2.64 GAA along with a .917 SV% in 19 starts this season.  That has him positioned to land a nice increase on his current $2.6MM salary either from the Sabres or elsewhere this summer.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • The Jets have transferred Nathan Beaulieu to LTIR, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link). The defenseman had been ruled out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery earlier this month so it was a move that could have been done at any time.  The placement adds another $1.15MM to Winnipeg’s LTIR pool, giving them just under $4.8MM in full-season cap hit that can be brought in.  That said, that number could drop a bit if they recall Kristian Vesalainen back up from the taxi squad later today; that would push Winnipeg’s spending room to a little under $4MM.
  • Golden Knights winger Ryan Reaves won’t face any supplementary discipline for his hit on Coyotes defenseman Jordan Gross yesterday, reports David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The ruling appears to be that while there was definitely contact to the head, it was not the principal point of contact.
  • The Rangers aren’t expected to find a late trade partner for defenseman Anthony DeAngelo, tweets Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. The blueliner hasn’t played since clearing waivers and being dismissed from the team in early February.  With another year left on his deal with a $4.8MM AAV (and a $5.3MM salary), he’s pretty much a lock to be bought out this summer.

Ryan Reaves Receives One-Game Suspension

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The Golden Knights will indeed be without winger Ryan Reaves for their series-opening game against Dallas on Sunday as the league announced that he has received a one-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Canucks forward Tyler Motte on Friday night.  The video from the Department of Player Safety explaining their decision can be found here.

The hit occurred late in the second period and Reaves received a major and a match penalty for the hit which was reviewed and upheld by officials.  Vancouver was unable to score with the critical man advantage and ultimately fell 3-0.

With Reaves out of the lineup, Nick Cousins will likely take his place for Game One against the Stars.  He had been scratched when Tomas Nosek returned on Friday night.  He has five assists in 14 games so far this postseason while Reaves has four helpers in 15 contests.

Ryan Reaves To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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While the Golden Knights will be kicking off their Western Conference Final series against Dallas on Sunday night, they may be doing so without one of their wingers as the Department of Player Safety announced that Ryan Reaves will have a hearing today following an illegal check to the head of Vancouver’s Tyler Motte on Friday night.

The incident, which can be seen here, occurred late in the second period and Reaves received a major and a match penalty for the hit and officials upheld the call following video replay.  The match penalty triggered the automatic hearing from the league as it carries an automatic suspension pending review.

While Reaves has been a physical player throughout his 10-year NHL career, he has only been suspended once before in 2016 when he received a three-game ban for boarding in 2016 while with St. Louis.  David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the early expectation is that Reaves will receive at least a one-game suspension for this incident.

Pacific Notes: Eriksson, Reaves, Richardson

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Near the trade deadline, the Sabres waived and sent Zach Bogosian to the AHL.  However, instead of reporting, Bogosian opted for a contract termination with an eye on resuming his NHL career and wound up in Tampa Bay shortly thereafter.  Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre posits that the Canucks may attempt to go down a similar path with winger Loui Eriksson.  Part of that ill-fated group of big free agent signings in 2016, Eriksson’s numbers went down as soon as he signed with Vancouver and had 72 points in his first three years combined after putting up 63 in Boston in his final year with them.  His output dipped even further this year to just six goals and seven assists in 49 games, hardly a good return on his $6MM price tag.  Once his upcoming $3MM signing bonus is paid, Eriksson will be owed just $5MM in salary over the final two years of the deal which might be enough to walk away from if he thinks he can land an opportunity with a bigger role elsewhere.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • While the Golden Knights managed to get Ryan Reaves to take a pay cut with his two-year extension earlier this week, SinBin.vegas’ Ken Boehlke argues that the team didn’t do enough to take advantage of their leverage. The winger has grown to enjoy playing in Vegas and didn’t seem to have much interest in looking elsewhere while his on-ice production isn’t the strongest either with most of his contributions coming on the physical side.  With the team being right up against the Upper Limit of the salary cap and the belief that the cap won’t be going much if at all for a few years, he suggests that they may have been better off dragging this out in the hopes of saving a bit more money in the end.
  • Coyotes center Brad Richardson told Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic that he underwent a procedure to fix a nagging injury that bothered him down the stretch. The veteran estimated that the issue prevented him from practicing over the final two months of the regular season.  While he didn’t suggest that it affected his offensive numbers, it likely was a detriment to his production as well as he dipped from 27 points in 66 games in 2018-19 to just 11 points in 59 contests this season.

Ryan Reaves Signs Two-Year Extension With Golden Knights

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Ryan Reaves has some unfinished business with the Vegas Golden Knights. Reaves has appeared with the Golden Knights for each of their three seasons, and he’ll be back for the next two, the right-winger announced himself via Twitter. The terms of the deal were revealed in the team announcement. Reaves will make $1.75MM per season.

The native Canadian entered the league in 2005 as a fifth-round draft choice of the St. Louis Blues. He made his debut with the Blues as a 24-year-0ld during the 2010-2011 season, ultimately spending seven seasons in St. Louis. The Blues traded Reaves and a 2nd round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in June of 2017 for a 1st rounder and Oskar Sundqvist. Reaves didn’t last a full season with the Penguins, while Sundqvist has turned himself into a rotation piece for the Blues.

The Penguins shipped Reaves to Vegas with a 4th rounder for Tobias Lindberg (who has since been traded twice more). This season, Reaves registered 15 points with 10:09 ATOI. As noted by the team in their press release, Reaves led the league in hits this season with 316 across 71 games. The 33-year-old should continue to be an active presence if/when the Golden Knights return to action.

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