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.
Lmao!
Blue shirt bullies
Awful acquisition
Odds 1:1 fighting Tom Wilson first game
Wilson is a chickensh**, he won’t take on Reaves
Wilson is actually good so he won’t fight reaves lol
Wilson figured out how to negate the Pens acquisition of Reaves by being such a chicken blank coward that he’d never fight and wait to do his dirty stuff when Reaves was on the bench.
Wilson IS good, but that doesn’t stop him from fighting (or blindsiding or attacking) guys who will NOT kick his ***, unlike Reaves.
Would you fight Reaves?
“Would you fight Reaves?”
The quiet that follows this question is why you acquire Ryan Reaves. And why a third is a steal.
Steal for Vegas
This should be fun. Something the rangers need, no doubt. I suppose that’s why they overpaid
A THIRD?!?! Is Vegas retaining any salary?
So basically Vegas got Dadonov for Holden and Reaves.
Teams in the west are liking this move. No more getting squashed by the big man!
The Knights just got better by dumping a huge liability. He is a slows ECHL skill level player. Terrible move, but typical when Dolan starts getting involved.
When you’re on the ice with a player like Reaves, you tend to keep your head on a swivel more than you normally do.
You also get open a lot more because he can’t play ice hockey.
He sucks. And at 34 he isn’t going to suck less.
It’s really not even about Ryan Reaves as much as it is about Dolan, Gallant, and Drury working to screw up a team that could have been ready to contend in the next year or two. If Dolan is actively involved, it will be very unlikely.
Reaves is just the symptom of the problem. The Rangers need a Matt Martin type of player for toughness, not a bum who can’t play.
Funny how Tom Wilson has been living rent free in Drury’s head all summer
I hate how much I like this deal for the Rangers. Reaves changes the dynamic every time he steps on the ice.
A third round pick has something like a 13% chance of becoming an NHL player. This is a steal.
Glad both sides are happy. I never would’ve imagined getting a 3rd for Reaves in a million years.
good luck with that 3rd… lolol that player most likely wont ever make it to the NHL.
I mean the blues got the 31st overall pick and sundquist for Revo so there’s a precedent here
No, this is Donald Brashear 2.0.
If you like this you are as dumb as the Rangers’ front office.
Yes, we need some tougher players, but not a 34-year-old, slow, ECHL skilled player.
TERRIBLE acquisition.
I mean, Reaves is barely an NHL player himself, so I guess it’s a fair deal.
I dunno Reaves has more talent then most of his Heavyweight Counterparts that were popular in the mid-2000’s. I mean Brian McGratton, Andrew Peters, Derek Boogaard (RIP), Steve McIntyre etc.. these guys looked as if they could barely skate or handle a puck ( I realize they probably could dangle me it’s more likely than not they just looked bad I comparison with the talent in the NHL).Don’t get me wrong I quite enjoyed watching them. they make Reaves look weak but Reaves at least can play the game at a satisfactory level.
Tom Wilson was recently engaged. As a wedding present the New York Rangers are giving rent free space in their heads
Wow, we now have our 4th line. We have 2/3 of our 3rd line set. We still need a second line center who can win face offs and play solid two way hockey or Eichel and move Zibby back! But this team is very different today and will not get bullied that’s for sure!
Ugh…going backwards.
Did McCrimmon lose Dubai’s number?
How much muscle do they need to acquire before they finally overcome their fear of Tom Wilson?
Right now Tom Wilson is having a good laugh seeing these deals over a beer.
We cleared more space. Need a center.
How did they clear more space? Useless players at close to 2M against the cap.
We need a center now.
While statistically a 3rd rounder is unlikely to result in much, generally, it’s a pick that yields a greater return than a fourth line tough guy with no offensive substance. That being said, as a Rangers fan…I freaking LOVE it
If you love this then you are as dumb as James Dolan.
Awful move – notice how the Knights only used him when the game was not close or important. Tells you everything you need to know.
The rangers feel like they need a guy like him on their roster. They’re going for it. A guy like Reaves, to them, is FAR more valuable for their team going for it than a 3rd Rd pick next year is. He’ll be a leading voice and a momentum shifter for a young team on the cusp of the playoffs. I’m an Islanders fan and I think that’s a great 4th line move for them
Funny how people say a 3rd is an overpay(which it is), but just imagine if you were senile enough to give up a 1st and Oskar Sundqvist for him…….
Do you all not know this was a head coach trade..Turk wanted a heavyweight now he has one Real good trade for Rangers…
Garbage trade.
Without Ryan Reaves, VGK doesn’t make the Cup Final in 2018. He DOMINATED the West Finals.
Every single time he steps on the ice, the other team knows it.
So many purported hockey fans don’t know what they are watching on the ice and think they can hide this ignorance behind a depth chart (or the gospel of MoneyPuck).
“He’s on the fourth line, that means he’s not as good as the guys on the three lines above him!”
Or that he has a different job. And Ryan Reaves is the BEST in the league at that specific job.
Which is why Vegas traded him, right?
Reeves was great in 2018. He has dropped off since then in almost every statistical category. And he will be 35 this year. Scrappers don’t tend to age well.
Vegas looks to have traded him at the right time.
…the team that just gave away the Vezina winner?
No doubt he can punch people in the face better than anyone in the league. Undisputed.
Too bad he can’t play hockey. At all. That’s why Vegas didn’t use him when the game was within a goal in the playoffs. He effing stinks.
And didn’t give him any ice time when the game was tight and on the line and goonery is useless.
The 36-year-old Vezina winner, who probably got it as a sentimental nod because he was that age. He’s never finished in the top 3 for Vezina in his career until this year. And was never higher than 7th in all his Penguin years.
Vegas is smart to re-tool now while they can fund suckers for their older players. They were also smart to dump Gallant a few years ago – he tends to wear out his welcome pretty quickly.
“…who probably got it as a sentimental nod because he was that age.”
Is that also why he won the Jennings?
Jennings is a team trophy that goes to the goalie.
So, the goalie who wins the Jennings is just kind of a bystander who wins by happenstance?
@padam – VGK has permanent bruises on the tops of the old melons from hitting the cap ceiling so much, unfortunately. Everybody’s becoming a cap casualty, and VGK is trying to make it fashionable.
The Penguins should have never let him go.
I’d love to see what would have happened in an alternate reality where, instead of trading Reaves and Ian Cole, Jimmy had just told Sully to get them out of the doghouse and play them.
Added bonus, the Butterfly Effect of this would also wipe away that DOG Derrick Brassard’s time with the Pens.
Couldn’t agree more. One of the Pens worst trades ever.
In outcome, yeah. And again, I wish Jimmy had just told Sully to make it work but…given that Sully wasn’t really using Cole or Reaves, their value to the Pens was limited.
On paper the trade made a ton of sense HAD Brassard continued to play at the level he had to that point in his career.
But, the whiny little DOG couldn’t stand the idea of being a third line center (his words, not mine) despite playing behind 2 first ballot HOF all timers AND playing with peak Phil Kessel, who would have been a first line wing on many/most teams at that time, and pouted instead of playing. No way of knowing what happens if he plays well for us. If we beat the Caps in 18, we might have won 3 in a row.
I knew this was coming, and this is the litmus test that Drury is just a puppet GM for that imbecile little Jimmy Dolan. Once Dolan is involved, your team is doomed.
Any Rangers fan who thinks this was a good move is as dumb as Dolan.
Yes, the Rangers needed some toughness, but a slow, aging goon who literally stinks at hockey is not the answer. There are tough players (Pat Maroon, Matt Martin are 2 examples) who can actually play hockey. Reaves has ZERO NHL-level skills.
And Gallant was the wrong choice for the coach – he will ruin their young skill players. I had no problem with replacing Quinn, who appeared to be trying to coach college hockey at the NHL level, but this is a dead end.
You think Gallant will ruin the young guns give ur head a shake …hear anything..thought so…wake up
It looks like Chris Drury remembered Ryan Reaves’ legendary statement a few years ago – “You have a Tom Wilson problem. I’m the answer.” Things just got more interesting in RangersTown…
The only thing Reaves is the answer to is the fact that the guys he’s supposed to cover are going to have a lot more opportunities to be open. Plus half of his hits he ends up taking himself out of the play to be sure he delivers to a guy who isn’t consequential to play at that moment.
He’s a damn joke, only I ain’t laughing. He’s old, he’s slow, and lacks hockey skills.
Tom Wilson living rent-free in Jimmy Dolan’s empty freaking head.
@MVP 4 – *If* Reaves gets even slightly re-energized at the prospect of going against Wilson, it will be noticeable. Gabriel and MacDermid didn’t move the needle for him nearly as much, as well as playing in front of cardboard cut-outs, instead of real flesh-and-blood fans for much of the COVID time. If his tank is empty or nearly so, then he’ll probably get cut loose sooner than not. The first two or three games against the Caps should show which way this will go.
If Reaves steals everything Con Edison has, it won’t be enough energy to make him valuable to the Rangers. The league has been moving away from these types of players for a while now – they are a liability with the game getting faster and less tolerance for crap. (Well, until the NHL hired a former goon to run league discipline.) Brilliant move, Bettman.
@MVP 4 – Reaves was brought in for the age-old reason, détente. If his “special abilities” get put to the test early in the season, and he comes through, the Rangers’ brass will, no doubt, claim it as a huge victory, even if he can’t single-handedly cause a ConEd brownout for a large section of the Northeast U.S. Some teams will continue to feel the need for a good amount of “Burkie-endorsed truculence” in their lineups. Ryan fits the bill for them, at least at the GM level and higher.
Tom Wilson ruined the Rangers lmao
No kidding – more damage than Ovie could do.
Lots of people on here talking about free rent and living rent free…where can I find some of that in NYC? I keep typing “Drury” into StreetEasy, but nothing is coming up.
Nice! I know it’s getting overdone…like why not at least charge the guy
56 comments. On RYAN REEVES.
Man you guys are bored.
It’s because, for the people who understand what is going on, it is a VERY bad sign for this team. And for those who don’t, they think a slow, no-skill goon is going to make this a better team, when it isn’t. These are the same clown who thought Sean Avery was the answer.
I called this during the playoff semifinals when I could see Vegas wasn’t using him, because he is a detriment on the ice when it counts…and little Jimmy threw his tantrum after the Wilson incident, and like the moron he is, started getting involved. He poisons everything he touches when it comes to the teams he owns. He’s a flipping idiot. (So stupid and out of touch he can’t even see how crappy his band is, despite having good musicians besides himself.)
Next, we will overpay for Eichel. Great player, but he will eat so much cap we will have roster problems.
Caps have signed our former 1st rounder Dylan “ The Undertaker “ McClrath. Don’t be surprised if he dresses for first game and takes on Reaves instead of Wilson. I believe he will become a regular on Caps D this year with Dillon gone. Just watch…
Wilson will have the bleu flu, he only likes to fight people he can ragdoll and is a coward. While I would rather the Rangers didn’t get Reeves, this is as much about those last 3 games against the Isles when they ran the Rangers top talent all over the ice.
And while I can’t stand Reaves, I will root for him to re-arrange Wilson’s facial features if he gets the chance.
Then we can waive his no-playing butt.
Yeah Wilson will not fight Reaves. I don’t blame him…he’s not a coward…it actually shows some intelligence
When you are willing to pick on Pnaerin but not another heavyweight, you are a coward.
After that incident, Joe Micheletti spoke to Colton Orr, who said that Wilson wouldn’t go near him when he was on the ice.
Wilson can play – no argument about it, He just needs to stop being human garbage, but I don’t think he’s capable.
We still need Ritchie too
I wanna see Wilson vs Reeves the way back in the day I was in heaven watching Domi vs Brashere. I think everyone wants to see this heavyweight matchup
Domi vs. Probert. That was the one that was like a boxing match folks were waiting for the second time around. And watching Domi ride his broom stick…
Domi was amazing…such a character.
Seems like Drury is following the Jim Benning model of supplementing an exciting young core with overpaid bottom six players that bring the ‘intangibles.’ How anyone could find any value in this guy is beyond me. Maybe I’m just missing something, but I’ve seen a lot of Reaves and he doesn’t bring anything to his team, hence why his teams have never won anything…. Goons like Reaves are a dime a dozen, so giving up any asset whatsoever for him is pretty insane. I’m pretty sure Zac Rinaldo or Raffi Torres are available if you’re looking for what little Reaves brings…
No, you’re not missing anything. He has never had a single NHL skill in his game beyond punching people in the face.
These jokers who act like this helps the Rangers are the ones missing something. Like a hockey IQ.
They are probably saying that as a sentimental nod because he was that age.
Connor McDavid’s teams have never won anything. What does that prove?
Evidently that every active player who wasn’t on the 06 Hurricanes, 07 Ducks, 08 Wings, 09 or 16 or 17 Pens, 10 or 13 or 15 Hawks, 11 Bruins, 12 or 14 Kings, 18 Caps, 19 Blues or the past two Lightning teams has no value.
Good to know.
Raffi had like 30 goals one year and wasn’t good at fighting…just cheap shots…I think he’s in a different class than a heavyweight fighter…10 years ago Reaves would’ve not been considered a heavyweight he’s not even that good of a fighter. there’s just no more pure enforcers in the game to compare him to.
He’s been a very good, but not a great goalie. To me, he would be marginal HoF except that the longevity and Pens cups require it. He’s nowhere near as great as Hank, but Hank played on garbage teams, and Fleury played on some great teams.
He’s now old, and Vegas is trying to retool instead of waiting.
Nice straw man argument though. Try gain later.
That’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that these ‘intangibles’ that Reaves is supposed to bring haven’t really panned out, so why do people convince themselves he’s what they need to go to the next level? Those championship teams had bottom six players that had more than ‘intangibles’ – they could actually drive possession and score at times, such as the Lightning’s third line or players like Hagelin, Bonino, Maroon, Richards, King, Lewis, Stoll, Burakovsky, Sharp, etc.
And the Oilers are in their own special category of ineptitude… in fact, adding Reaves for Yamamoto one-for-one would be the kind of thing they’d try to do, surprised they didn’t actually make it happen.
Ah, ok…so the goalie with the third most wins in NHL history and 3 rings is a marginal HOF’er.
This is the kind of hockey analysis you can’t get anywhere else.
For a reason.
Didn’t Dolan post a letter after the Wilson incident that the NHL needs to get rid of these no talent goons? How many has he acquired this offseason?
The new PHR Party Game! Every time someone posts to this topic, take a drink!
Wtf would they extend him. I get trading fir him for the one year, see how it works out but to extend a guy who will barely play meaningful minutes is typical stupid Ranger nonsense.
I’ve never been a Reaves fan, but this does make sense. NYR is stocked with talent, most of which being inexperienced and unproven. They had a certain unfortunate incident (yes, Wilson should have been punished) against Washington.
But even though they overpaid, I think this does make NYR a better team. They can now roll the goon out at basically any position, at any time, and try to counteract the bullying that they’ve been subjected to. Could actually have a positive effect.
Now that I’ve said this, let’s have @MVP 4
come tell me how everyone who disagrees with him might as well be named Dolan, and make a reference to the ECHL. It’s only fair at this point right!?
Just trade for Wilson if you’re that fearful of him
Reeves and Wilson just got a whole lot closer lol
I honestly love how Tom Wilson alone has impacted about 3-4 roster spots on the Rangers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more real life “rent free” situation in professional sports.
When neither the refs or the league will stop Wilson from maiming your players…
link to youtube.com