Ryan Reaves played 81 regular season games in a New York Rangers sweater over the span of two seasons. In those 81 games, he tallied five goals and eight assists, but he brought other intangibles to the locker room that could never be measured in stats.
There aren't many players in today's NHL that bring what Ryan Reaves does to a locker room. Mike Rupp spent 12 seasons in the NHL and talked about how important it is to have guys that make your team a little bit cockier.
Reaves did just that for the Rangers during his time in New York. Did he make the team faster? Maybe not. Was he a scoring threat? Only when games were on TNT, but what he did for the overall team swagger is hard to argue.
Rupp came on The Blew Crew Podcast and talked about why Reaves is a difference-maker for every team that he plays on, take a listen to the high praise that Rupper has for Reavo:
Last season the Rangers never seemed to find the swagger that they had in the 2021-22 season. So this begs the question, who will be the guy that brings the energy to the locker room this coming season? Can the Rangers get that swagger back?