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Vegas Golden Knights: Ryan Reaves Providing A Significant Impact

By Richard Cardinale

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 28: Ryan Reaves #75 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates his third-period goal with his teammates against the Washington Capitals in Game One of the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on May 28, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Capitals 6-4. (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 28: Ryan Reaves #75 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates his third-period goal with his teammates against the Washington Capitals in Game One of the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on May 28, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Capitals 6-4. (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images) /
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Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves couldn’t have picked a better time to start playing the best hockey of his career.

It was an exciting trade deadline for the Vegas Golden Knights. Not many fans knew what this team was going to do. There were rumors about possibly selling off James Neal and/or David Perron for draft picks or prospects. Hell, there were even rumors that the Golden Knights would part ways with Alex Tuch, Shea Theodore and Cody Glass or Nick Suzuki for Erik Karlsson.

None of those rumors came to fruition thankfully, but they did make a couple of moves to improve the team. One of those was acquiring Tomas Tatar for three draft picks. Vegas brought Tatar in to help improve the Golden Knights depth scoring at the wing position.

Unfortunately, the Ilava, Czechoslovakia native struggled to find his goal scoring touch with Vegas. Golden Knights Head Coach Gerard Gallant had to make the tough decision in sitting Tatar for most of the playoffs. Although, he did score a big goal in game two of the Western Conference Finals against the Winnipeg Jets that eventually turned the tide in the series.

But perhaps the move that no one talked about was the addition of Ryan Reaves. The Golden Knights acquired the Winnipeg, Manitoba native and a fourth-round selection in 2018 from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Tobias Lindberg and retaining 40% of Derick Brassard’s salary. That’s right; initially, Brassard was the big fish in this trade coming over from Ottawa.

So basically, the Golden Knights acquired a free fourth-round pick and a power forward that will help in the bottom six. All they needed to do was retaining a bit of Brassard’s contract and part with a low-level prospect in Lindberg. Just another reason why George McPhee will win the general manager of the year award.

However, Reaves started off slow, and like Tatar, he also couldn’t find his way into the lineup. Reaves was taking mindless penalties and kept putting the team in a tight spot. Not to mention, he chipped in just two assists in 21 games played with the Golden Knights during the regular season.

William Carrier came back from injury and played fantastic in the first round series against the Los Angeles Kings. Furthermore, it looked like there wasn’t much hope for Reaves playing in these playoffs again. But an opening occurred due to another injury to Carrier in game five of the second round series against the San Jose Sharks.

Gallant inserted Reaves for game six at San Jose in a closeout situation. Reaves had a sensational game in his first game back since April 7th against the Calgary Flames. He hit everything that moved and made it hard for the Sharks to gain traction in the offensive zone. He piled up a game-high eight hits in 10:11 of TOI.

Additionally, the good fortunes continued for the 31-year old in the Western Conference Finals against the Jets. He constantly kept getting in the face of Dustin Byfuglien and hit him any chance he had. But not only did he provide an impact physically, but he showed what he could do offensively.

In game five against Winnipeg in another closeout game, he scored the eventual game-winning goal by tipping a Luca Sbisa shot from the point. His first Golden Knights goal couldn’t have come at a better time. Scoring the series-clinching goal is always special, but scoring it in front of your family and friends made it all that more special for Reaves.  You can’t make this stuff up.

His offensive trend continued in game one of the Stanley Cup Final against the Washington Capitals. The hard-nosed veteran scored the game-tying goal in a critical spot after the Capitals just went up by one. His goal set the tone for the rest of the game, and his line went out there and notched another as Tomas Nosek slammed one past Braden Holtby to clinch a game one victory.

It’s very rare to see Reaves score goals in two consecutive games. He’ll have a chance to do something he’s never accomplished before on Wednesday night, and that is to score in three games in a row for the first time in his career.

Next: Vegas Golden Knights Top Washington Capitals In Game One Of Stanley Cup Final

All in all, the Vegas Golden Knights are getting everything they wanted from Ryan Reaves and more. He and his teammates will have the opportunity to take a 2-0 series lead in the Cup Final on Wednesday. Catch puck drop at 5 PM PT on NBCSN.

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