St. Louis Blues trade Ryan Reaves to Pittsburgh Penguins
Ryan Reaves‘ departure will be immensely depressing for most Blues fans, but it says something about his value that the Blues were able to get a first-rounder for him.
The St. Louis Blues parted ways with a beloved fan favorite, respected team leader, and much-appreciated good quote for the media on Friday night, sending winger Ryan Reaves to the Pittsburgh Penguins after a seven-season career with the Blues.
Reaves, the son of former CFL player Willard Reaves, made an improbable journey to the NHL after being a fifth-round pick in 2005 and spending three full seasons in the minor leagues before getting a shot at hockey’s highest level. For many years, he provided protection for the Blues’ stars as an enforcer, arguably peaking in that role during the 2016 playoffs, when he blew a kiss to the Dallas Stars’ bench after physically dominating Dallas forward Curtis McKenzie in a fight.
With as beloved as Reaves was by Blues fans, it would’ve been difficult going into Friday night’s draft to imagine that the Blues could have possibly netted Sundqvist, an intriguing 23-year-old who has just 73 regular-season games under his belt in North America, 28 of them in the NHL, and Klim Kostin, who was widely regarded as a top-10 pick before shoulder surgery ended his 2016-17 season early, in exchange for him.
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The 6-foot-3, 209-pound Sundqvist who has one goal and three assists in the NHL, adds to the Blues’ depth at center and gives them yet another big, young player with untapped potential. If he properly recovers from his injury, Kostin could end up being the most exciting young winger the organization has had since Vladimir Tarasenko broke into the league.
Reaves isn’t a great offensive player–he had a career-high seven goals and six assists over 80 games in 2016-17–but he provides the rare combination of speed and toughness that is tough to find in today’s NHL. He’s not your old-school “goon”; he’ll get in front of the net and create some offensive chances, he’s a responsible player in his own end, and he doesn’t look totally out of place if he’s cast into a third-line role. He doesn’t fight much anymore, but he’s intimidating enough that opponents avoided messing around with Vladimir Tarasenko and now will be more careful before they choose to harass Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
Many Blues fans criticized GM Doug Armstrong for choosing to protect Reaves in advance of the Vegas Golden Knights’ expansion draft this past week. As it turns out, that was a smart choice, as Reaves brought back Sundqvist and gave the Blues the opportunity to select Kostin. While he’s a good player, David Perron–the guy who the Golden Knights ultimately selected–surely wouldn’t have brought back the same value that Reaves did, as he’s pretty much a cookie-cutter second-line winger and is too similar to a lot of other players to command that type of return.
Next: Blues acquire Schenn for Lehtera, two first-rounders
With Reaves gone, it’ll be interesting to see which players occupy the wing spots on the Blues’ fourth line next season. It’s possible that Scottie Upshall, who has occupied the left-wing spot on that line for the past two seasons, will return as an unrestricted free agent. Other candidates could include Zach Sanford, Magnus Paajarvi, and Dmitrij Jaskin as well as Sundqvist.