Rangers trade for Ryan Reaves…two years too late

The New York Rangers had a quiet second day of free agency until 10pm when they announced that they had traded for Ryan Reaves, the prototype of the NHL enforcer, sending a third round pick from the 2022 draft to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Reaves is 34 years old and is another big forward acquired by New York.  He is 6’1″, 225 pounds and has a reputation as one of the best fighters in the league. It’s a reunion with former Vegas coach Gerard Gallant who had to have some influence on the Rangers’ pursuit of him.

Reaves had his best season in the NHL under Gallant, scoring nine goals and 20 points in 2018-19.  He played in 80 games and averaged 10:52 minutes of ice time per game, the most in his career. This year he had one goal and five points in 37 games with 27 PIM’s and he averaged 9:56 minutes of ice time per game.

He was drafted in the fifth round by the St. Louis Blues in 2005 and played for the Blues for seven years before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens flipped him to Vegas in February, 2018 and that’s where he has been ever since.

Remember this heavyweight bout between Rangers Adam McQuaid and Reaves a couple years ago?

With the Rangers’ need for toughness, fans have lusted after him for years and they finally have their man.   When the Blueshirts open their season against the Capitals in October, you can be sure that Reaves will be in the lineup and he will have been forced to watch the video of the Tom Wilson “incident.”

Reaves’ reputation precedes him. While he is an enforcer, he has accumulated only eight fighting majors in the last three years.  In 2017-18 he had six fights.  That was the season that Cody McLeod had 13 fights for the Predators and Rangers.  The fact is, when you win a lot of fights, you end up not fighting a lot.

Reaves is going into the last year of a two-year contract he signed in 2020 with Vegas with an Annual Average Value (AAV) of $1.75 million.

It appears to be time for the Rangers to stop focusing on toughness.  With Reaves, Jarred Tinordi, Dryden Hunt, Patrik Nemeth and Barclay Goodrow they seem to have a surplus of big, tough, physical players.  That said, Nick Ritchie of the Boston Bruins remains unsigned and the Rangers are rumored to be very interested.

Good-bye Brendan Smith

Speaking of tough guys, the one New York Ranger who took on Tom Wilson is headed to Carolina.  Brendan Smith signed a one year contract for $800,000 with the Hurricanes, a team that is fast becoming New York Rangers South with Brady Skjei, Jesper Fast, Antti Raanta, Joey Keane and Tony DeAngelo already there.

At that salary, he versatile Smith is  bargain considering his ability to play forward and defense. He was good in the locker room, honest with the media and willing to fight for his teammates.  It was almost enough to forget the one egregious bonehead play he would make every game.

Chytil signs

Filip Chytil signed a two-year contract with an AAV of $2.4 million.  He was a Restricted Free Agent (RFA), coming off his Entry Level Contract.

Chytil is still a kid, not turning 22 until September. He had a very solid campaign, though it was shortened by a wrist injury.  His 0.52 points per game average was the best of his career and he scored eight goals in 42 games.  He is still pretty abysmal on faceoffs and there is a belief that he is better suited as a winger than a center.

With Chytil signed, that leaves Igor Shesterkin and Libor Hajek as unsigned RFA’s on the major league roster.  The team still has to sign RFA prospects Ty Ronning, Tim Gettinger and Adam Huska.

With the signing the Rangers payroll sits at $67,837,302 with $13,662,698 in cap space.  Note that that is for 24 players including Dryden Hunt ($762k), but not Morgan Barron ($925k) and it includes Keith Kinkaid ($825k), but not unsigned Igor Shesterkin and Libor Hajek.   The active roster limit is 23 players.

What the heck is Da Beauty League?

A few New York Rangers are playing pick up games in Minnesota in “Da Beauty League.”   That is an annual summer  tournament featuring players who are from the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  They play games weekly with playoffs and a championship in August.

Rangers in the tournament include K’Andre Miller, Ryan Lindgren, Jonny Brodzinski and former Blueshirts Derek Stepan, Vinni Lettieri and Steven Fogarty.

That’s why we saw the Rangers’ Twitter account posting Miller and Brodzinski scoring goals in late July.

What’s next

The Rangers need to get Igor Shesterkin to sign a contract.  Sunday, August 1 at 5pm is the deadline for arbitration-eligible RFA’s to file for arbitration.  The deadline for teams to file is Monday, August 2 at 5pm.

If the two sides are unable to come to an agreement, a date for the arbitration will be set. Normally, teams do get their players under contract before the actual hearing takes place.  Those hearings are scheduled to take place beginning on August 17.

Meanwhile,there have been a number of signings on day two of free agency.  Of the players whose names have been linked to the Blueshirts, Brandon Saad ended up in St. Louis.

Of special interest to the Rangers was the six-year, $57.5 million contract signed by defenseman Zack Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets. With an AAV of $9.583 million, it comes in slightly higher than the contract signed by Seth Jones and a half million more than the contracts doled out to Dougie Hamilton and Cale Makar.  It’s just another contract that the Rangers will have to consider when figuring out how much to pay Adam Fox.   Like Fox, Werenski’s current contract doesn’t  expire until after the coming season.