Ryan Reaves offers no real value to the Vegas Golden Knights besides chaos

Ryan Reaves can be valuable to the Vegas Golden Knights, but the last two games have proven he doesn’t have any value to give.

As happens when a game gets out of hand, the end of Sunday night’s Game 1 between the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche turned ugly. As a 7-1 win for Colorado neared the end, Vegas forward Ryan Reaves received a match penalty for attempting to injury Avalanche defenseman Ryan Graves. And frankly, Reaves succeeded in the attempt.

Reaves was surely trying to exact retaliation for a questionable hit Graves levied on Golden Knights forward Mattias Janmark earlier in the game. But Reaves started with a cross check to Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer, which Graves probably didn’t take kindly to. Then things escalated, and a multi-player brawl came.

Reaves’ match penalty means he will be suspended, it’s just a matter of how long. Twitter was calling for a suspension after Sunday night’s game, and San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane (who’s no stranger to line-toeing physical play himself) had a funny alternative. Make Reaves play far more than he’s used to, or should.

Ryan Reaves delivers no value for the Vegas Golden Knights

Reaves was placed on the COVID-19 list last week, but due to a false positive he came off it for Game 7 of Vegas’ first round series against the Minnesota Wild. In that game, he cross-checked Wild defenseman Ryan Suter into the goal post, but was somehow only given a two-minute minor for interference.

Reaves serves one purpose for the Golden Knights, hitting and physical play to keep things in line and protect star players. In 37 regular season games this year he had five points (one goal, four assists) with nearly as many shots on goal (26) as penalty minutes (27). He has a place, and that place can have value…until lines are crossed, too many liberties are taken, opposing players get badly injured and penalties/suspensions come.

Reaves was not the only one guilty of going over the line Sunday night. The league office will be reviewing Graves’ hit on Janmark, and Vegas’ Max Pacioretty’s hit on Colorado’s Sam Girard may be subject to a suspension.

But when imposing physical will is your only game, and the only way you deliver value, it stands out when the line is crossed. So long suspension or not, Vegas coach Peter DeBoer will have a hard time deploying Reaves for any meaningful ice time in close games.

It’s not a coincidence the last two games for the Golden Knights have been one-sided. After playing 11:46 in Game 7 against the Wild, Reaves would have played more than his 9:33 on Sunday night if he hadn’t been ejected. So he does have a place, if he’s even available for the rest of the playoffs for Vegas. At the end of the bench.