Report: New York Rangers trade Ryan Reaves to Minnesota Wild

ryan reaves rangers
Dec 4, 2021; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers right wing Ryan Reaves (75) at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Rangers have traded Ryan Reaves to the Minnesota Wild for a fifth-round draft pick.

Hockey Insider Kevin Weekes broke the deal just prior to it being made official.

Per the team’s press release:

New York Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury announced today that the team has acquired a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Ryan Reaves.

The Rangers now have a total of 8 picks in the 2025 draft.

Rangers trade Ryan Reaves

run reaves
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Reaves, 35, played 81 regular season games with the Rangers since being traded from the Vegas Golden Knights in the summer of 2021. He registered 5 goals and 13 points, along with 55 penalty minutes on Broadway.

Gerard Gallant had scratched the veteran right wing in 7 of the Rangers last 8 games.

“I’m a player’s type of coach,” Gallant said regarding Reaves. “I’m not going to let a guy sit there and rot and not say something to them. That doesn’t happen.”

Their relationship is close and dates back to Vegas’ inaugural season in 2017-18. Gallant is a big fan of the way Reaves plays and wanted him in New York when he took the job last season. Unfortunately, as the team became faster the slower-footed enforcer had difficulty keeping up.

“Reavo is a professional,” Gallant noted. “I’m sure he’s not happy and he wants to play every game. It’s tough. It’s never easy but he’s a true pro and we love what he does for us.”

Reaves will now take his talents to Minnesota, who plays a slower but heavier brand of hockey. The Rangers took whatever they could get in order to clear cap space. Reaves has an AAV of $1.75 million.

“After trading Reaves and saving (his) $1.34M Cap Hit for remainder of year, the New York Rangers have $1.5M Projected Cap Space with 22 players on active Roster,” tweeted PuckPedia. “That space can fit (a) $1.98M Annual Cap Hit today or $6.68M Annual Cap Hit at deadline.”

In 767 career NHL games for the St. Louis Blues (2010-11 to 2016-17), Pittsburgh Penguins (2017-18), Vegas (2017-18 to 2020-21) and Rangers, Reaves has 54 goals, 60 assists and 992 penalty minutes.

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Anthony Scultore is the founder of Forever Blueshirts and has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL... More about Anthony Scultore

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