Ryan Reaves’ Presence is Missed by the Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche this past Wednesday. In that loss the Golden Knights wing, Nolan Patrick, found himself taken out of the game due to a nasty hit from Nathan MacKinnon.

The hit on Golden Knights forward, Nolan Patrick, even as bad as it was, was only the root of a bigger problem. Well, I suppose it’s more like ‘a couple problems.’ Is going to be an big issue moving forward.

The first problem is the fact that the hit on Patrick, could be a even bigger problem than ‘just a hit’. For those of you that don’t know Nolan Patrick’s injury history, it’s not good. In the past, he’s had a rough go with head injuries. In fact, he missed an entire season with the Philadelphia Flyers due to a migraine issue.

So, given the fact Nolan Patrick was taken out and hit his head on the ice pretty hard, things are not promising by any stretch which brings me to the second point.

The second point is the fact that when Nolan Patrick took that hit, no one on the Knights went and dropped the gloves to defend Patrick.  While Patrick was on the ice in pain bracing himself over the ice, all that was going on was a scuffle. Which shouldn’t be the case.

When you are able to take a player out and all that happens is a scuffle, that’s not exactly showing a team that’s got your back. Additionally, it shows teams that they can start pushing the limits when facing the Knights because no one is quite as willing to drop the gloves and protect their teammates.

Is this an overexaggerating the situation? Maybe. However, one of the most injury prone players, Nolan Patrick, just took a nasty hit to his head in which most of his injuries have occurred. Yet, no one was willing to protect him.

In that situation, it would’ve been nice to see someone step up which brings me to the point of the article… The Golden Knights miss Ryan Reaves.

The Golden Knights Miss Ryan Reaves

As I was saying above, the Golden Knights should’ve protected Patrick more than they did. That much is not arguable. I mean, he is your teammate and is prone to injures and just got taken out. That’s the instance in which you need to protect him and show them that they can’t do that. That’s where Ryan Reaves would’ve come into play.

Reaves is one of the few hard-hitting fighters in this league and anybody who challenges Reaves needs to get tested for being crazy. Watching some of his fights in the past, I mean Reaves can and will do damage if you try testing him.

In that situation an enforcer would’ve been nice to have. Now, I know some of you guys will say Keegan Kolesar will drop the gloves for his team- can we both agree that Reaves is a lot more feared than Kolesar?

Now, maybe this is an over-reaction, but this was something I noticed, that as a coach need’s to be addressed. You can’t let the opposition get away with taking one of your players out without having to face consequences. If they would’ve had Reaves on the ice there, MacKinnon will know better than that. That much is guaranteed.