Ryan Reaves destroyed a Red Wing

Filip Hronek is going to be feeling that for the next little while, at least.

During the first period of the game against the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild winger Ryan Reaves headed up the ice with a head full of steam and bodychecked the Detroit defenseman so damn hard.

Yeah, at one point you feel bad for Hronek, but the other fact is that the defenseman was not even looking at what was coming at him down the middle of the ice until the very last millisecond. As you’re skating forward, it’s not the best idea to look behind you, especially when Ryan fucking Reaves is on the ice.

After the hit, it took a while for Hronek to get to his feet, so just another reason to feel just slightly gross about it. But again, it was kind of his fault for not realizing he’s playing a hockey game for a second or two.

To add to the dramatics and physicality, after demolishing Hronek, Reaves had a nasty (good) hit on another Detroit defenseman and then teammate Ben Chiarot wanted to tussle with the known bruiser.

That seemed to have been a bad decision, Ben!

And to just show how much better he is at this kind of game than everyone else, as he was going off the ice after the brawl, Reaves showed the home crowd some muscle.

Yeah, I bet Wild management does not regret spending a fifth-round pick to acquire Reaves right now. An instant highlight reel and gets almost everyone pumped to watch a damn hockey game.

If the NHL’s Department of Player Safety wants to get involved in any of this, I would be shocked. Hronek potentially being injured on the first hit doesn’t help — as they do take injuries into consideration when it comes to fine and suspensions — but after watching the hit just a couple times, it’s difficult to think that they would want to suspend an open-ice hit like that. Wasn’t from Hronek’s blind spot, or a dirty bash along the boards.

Nevertheless, we are loving having Reavo on this hockey team.