Article: Wild Wise To Pass On Ryan Reaves Contract

[Tony Abbott]

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[Willy the poor boy]

Really really glad they didn't resign him. You can say all you want his presence made a difference, but the reality is it didn't stop Suter from continuously crosschecking Kap, and I'm sure it did little to slow anyone else down when playing the Wild. Foligno and Hartman were the guys that went after the antagonizers.

[Secord Sucks]

Good article, pretty much sums up how I’m feeling with Reeves, would have loved him back, but not for that long at his age. Best of luck in Toronto.
 

 One question though, when we got Reeves, everyone talked about how everyone on the team “got a little taller with him around.” Does this mean that we’ll all be a little shorter now?

[mnfaninnc]

This was a really good line:

Quote

 Maybe it was just because they got the Shasta version of Reaves. This time Guerin traded for Coca-Cola Classic.

And the rest of the article was well written!

Tony shows the charts, but the eye test must match the charts. From what I saw, specifically as the season rolled on, and into the playoffs, Reaves did slow down. He was unable to catch defenders in the corners, and unable to catch perpetrators taking advantage of our young stars. This will only grow as he ages. 

The hope is that players like Hartman and Duhaime, specifically Duhaime, learned from Reaves about what he needed to do. The Wild appear to be losing 2 loud personalities in Reaves and Dumba. I'm not a big believer in the loud personalities thing, but we do need an enjoyable place to come to work. We do, however, happen to have 2 jokester goalies who can keep things light!

Moving on to next season, my hope is that Hartman's right arm will be healthy enough to chuck the punches, and that Middleton will need to become more physical. If we're flipping Addison, we need a bigger NHL body back, and by bigger, I mean someone else in the Middleton class. 

When Reaves fought people, it seemed orchestrated, like, right after a faceoff most of the time, where he didn't have to chase someone down. In this case, Reaves had to get an agreement to go. I don't know that we need that kind of fighter, I think we need the guy who can chase someone down when they take liberties with our younger, smaller guys and won't ask the opponent if he wants to go, they'll just force the issue. Someone like a Max Domi would seem to be more useful in that regards than Reaves would be. 

Reaves is a true heavyweight, but he is a shell of himself right now. It used to be that Reaves could also deliver those heavy shifts where he'd have 3-4 solid hits creating carnage over the ice. That's the type of enforcer I think we need. Reaves is too slow to do that now, he can only deliver the hits if someone turns the wrong way. We just need a younger version of Reaves. Where do we find that?

[Tony Abbott]

11 hours ago, Secord Sucks said:

Good article, pretty much sums up how I’m feeling with Reeves, would have loved him back, but not for that long at his age. Best of luck in Toronto.
 

 One question though, when we got Reeves, everyone talked about how everyone on the team “got a little taller with him around.” Does this mean that we’ll all be a little shorter now?

The Wild wish they were a little bit taller, they wish they were a baller, they wish they had a girl who looked good, they would call her. 

[Quebec1648]

Reaves has the unfortunate combination of declining speed and a fearsome reputation. No NHL player wants to fight Reaves anymore, because they know it won't end well. The loss of speed, prevents Reaves from forcing the issue, since the instigators can skate to the bench before Reaves can catch up to them.

The Wild need a mixture of size and strength on every line. Part of the reason Logan Stanley got away with the hit on Kaprizov, is that the heavy weights were on the bench. If you want someone like Reaves to protect Kaprizov, they need to be on the ice at the same time as Kaprizov.

Bill Guerin needs to acquire a big 6'3" center to play alongside Kaprizov and Zuccarello on the top line. Mix the big body with the smaller ones, just like Middleton-Spurgeon combo.

[Protec]

4 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

The Wild wish they were a little bit taller, they wish they were a baller, they wish they had a girl who looked good, they would call her. 

"I wish I had a brand new car but so far I got this hatchback, and everywhere I go yo I gets laughed at."

Are the Wild the hatchback or the Skee-Lo of playoff teams???

[vonlonster67]

Thanks Tony, I'm happy for the thoroughness and hard truth of this article and happy Reevo is in the Eastern Conference. 

BG just wouldn't let this go and it is a blessing in disguise. Time for someone in house to step up and take ownership of this team and be the driver.

I've said this before, we don't need Reevo, fights, penalties, losing our key guys in the penalty box which also disrupts our offensive flow,  taking stupid retaliation cheap shots.

We need to stand up, be physical and be smart enough to play the game and the fine line. Don't make the referees job easy.

I watched the playoffs and shook my head everytime Jamie Benn got in our grill, pushed it just far enough or when he couldn't get caught. Same with Suter. Did I like it, NO! I had to respect their tact in how they continued to get away with it.

Take note Wild!!!!

Edited July 2, 2023 by vonlonster67

[mnfaninnc]

34 minutes ago, vonlonster67 said:

I watched the playoffs and shook my head everytime Jamie Benn got in our grill, pushed it just far enough or when he couldn't get caught. Same with Suter. Did I like it, NO! I had to respect their tact in how they continued to get away with it.

Take note Wild!!!!

I get what you're saying, but when the officiating crew calls phantom penalties on our guys because of dives or other things, and then hand out tens because they're afraid of retribution, you have to start taking some of the finger pointing off of our guys and onto the stripes. 

But, none of this will stop unless this team is willing to embarrass officials and require them to fill out extra paper work including having the NHL review their calls/games. 

Yes, Benn was very good at what he did, and Suter had no problems laying the lumber. However, how did nobody catch Suter in the corner? How did nobody really nail Benn coming up the ice? It's not just fighting or after whistle shenanigans, we need to be taking the body hard in open ice, and with some of our players, we are simply not able to do that. Sometimes it really sucks having such a small team, but want them to play big.

Also, Nosek is still on the board, a player Protec has recommended we go after.

[vonlonster67]

Nothings gonna change with the officials....play the game within the game. 

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, vonlonster67 said:

Nothings gonna change with the officials....play the game within the game. 

I do not believe this to be true. But, to change it, the organization will need to be willing to embarrass officials, and have a few meltdowns that gets somewhat negative attention nationally. 

Referees fear losing control because they have more work and they get scrutinized. This is one reason why certain franchises get preferential treatment, such as Boston and Philly. Referees know that they won't put up with it. Caps get it too because Tom Wilson can come completely unglued if needed. 

Foligno has already called out officials for their poor calls. We constantly have to watch the incompetence of the officials, specifically on our west coast swings. Meltdowns need to be both at home and on the road. And, you can get traction from an us against the world mentality. 

As for teams taking runs at our players, Hartman's answer was probably the best of last season. His reverse hit on Ehlers, which was questionable, was the answer for Stanley falling over Kaprizov and ruining his season. And, it was a skilled player who did not make it back to start the playoffs. These things need to be done to change the narrative, and can be. I only hope we can get this done before '25 when the games will really matter for us.

[MNCountryLife]

Spot on Article.  1 player will not suddenly make a team scary.  The Wild need bigger players across the entire roster.  It is why I liked the draft this year in that we only had 1 player under 6 foot.  Gradually our entire roster needs to increase in size.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

It is why I liked the draft this year in that we only had 1 player under 6 foot.  Gradually our entire roster needs to increase in size.

I'm more concerned about having players >200 lbs. String beans don't help the cause. 6'3" 222 is definitely an upgrade!

[Imyourhuckleberry]

At the lower cap hit and shorter contract, Maroon should definitely be a solid addition. I certainly enjoyed having Reaves on the team, particularly some interviews, but Dewar and Shaw made that line work and it seemed to lose all chemistry when Shaw went down.

Dewar and Reaves had 1 point each in the Vegas rematch, following Shaw's injury, but neither posted another point the rest of the season or playoffs.

[M_Nels]

I see Maroon as a pretty decent upgrade over Reaves. Personally glad he wasn't re-signed. Great guy, good for some big hits but he was an anchor on that 4th line, behind plays, slow to get back etc. Not saying Maroon is a speedster but he's quicker and plays with the same grit/toughness with better puck skills.