Cons to trading for Ryan Reaves
Some Rangers fans will argue that the team should stay away from veterans, especially older players who are more known for dropping the gloves than they are for laying on a flurry of goals and assists.
Reaves has built his career on toughness and being able to go toe-to-toe with other bruisers in the NHL, so he won’t bring dazzling skill and high levels of offensive production to the table.
Trading for a slugger like Reaves would also potentially block the path of a young stud from making the majors, although at 32-years-old Reaves would only be a short-term fix rather than a long-term solution.
Another potential caveat is the price. Although at $2,775,000 Reaves wouldn’t be anywhere near the top earner bracket on the Rangers roster, it is steep for a fourth-line enforcer and the money could be spent on upgrading other areas of the roster.
It is also pricey for a player who logged on average 10:52 minutes of ice time per game, which also happened to be a career-high for the right-shot.
Finally, because of the way he plays the game and where he’s at in his career, it is likely that Reaves will start to suffer from some wear and tear sooner rather than later.
That means that the Rangers will get one year of good hockey and peak toughness from Reaves before his current contract expires, but that may be enough.
Conclusion
Personally, the positives far outweigh the negatives when it comes to discussing a potential trade for Ryan Reaves.
He’s tough as nails and, with the Rangers expected to be even younger in 2019-20, he would be a perfect security blanket to have on the roster in order to protect the franchise’s glut of young studs.
He’d bring a dollop of energy to Broadway with his joker-like personality, which you need in and around the locker room when you go through tough times, which happens a lot if you are a team undergoing a rebuild such as the Blueshirts.
Plus, the Golden Knights find themselves in salary cap hell and need to shift bodies out of the building so negotiations would be fairly easy to conduct and the Rangers probably wouldn’t have to give up a great deal.
Considering where the Rangers are in their rebuilding process, a player of Ryan Reaves’ stature who can come in and protect his younger teammates and act as an old head to lean on in the locker room would be an invaluable commodity.
It is a trade that could make a lot of sense for the New York Rangers and could be worth exploring if they decide that adding some grit to their roster is an offseason must.