After the second period Friday in Carolina, the Penguins had a visitor — albeit a familiar one — in their dressing room at PNC Arena.
Ryan Reaves.
Officially traded to the Vegas Golden Knights just minutes earlier, Reaves stopped by for a few hugs and to say goodbye. He followed that by entering the coaches office to do the same and shaking general manager Jim Rutherford’s hand.
“I have no hard feelings,” Reaves told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by phone on Sunday night. “It’s a business. Decisions have to be made. It is what it is.”
One of those decisions involved sending Reaves to Vegas to make the money work in the Penguins’ acquisition of Derick Brassard.
It ended Reaves’ brief Pittsburgh tenure, but he enjoyed it so much here that he hopes to hang out with Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby and others over the summer.
Reaves said he holds Crosby in especially high regard for a dinner invite he got from the Penguins captain only a day or two after the team traded for Reaves.
“There wasn’t a guy on that team that I didn’t get along with,” Reaves said. “Obviously a really good group. Phil, Sid, [Evgeni Malkin], [Kris Letang], [Brian Dumoulin] and [Justin Schultz] are guys I got to know pretty well.
“I’m definitely going to try and keep up with them and maybe run into them over the summer once in a while.”
Not physically, of course, although Reaves could if he wanted to.
Taking his services to Vegas figures to benefit Reaves, who never truly found a fit in Pittsburgh. A big reason for that is the difference between conferences. Previously, Reaves played his entire career in St. Louis, a slow and physical Western Conference team.
“I never really thought it was that big of a difference until I played in the East, but you definitely see it,” Reaves said. “Teams in the East are built with a little more speed. They like playing that pace game.
“Out West, every team seems to have a little bit of physicality to them. I like playing that game. I like to play a little heavier. I think it gets me into the games a little bit more.”
Reaves said he was definitely surprised by the trade — “I didn’t even know I was on the trading block,” he said — but then when he started to think about everything, it made sense. He also got excited.
Vegas assistant general manager Kelly McCrimmon and Reaves have a good relationship dating to Reaves’ junior days. And when you consider the story the expansion Golden Knights have written, hey, it could’ve been a lot worse.
“The game we played [in Vegas] earlier in the season was probably the best atmosphere I’ve ever seen in an NHL rink,” Reaves said. “That was a blast. Coming into a team that’s first place in the West, I’m not going to be mad about that. Any team that wants me on their team, I’m going to be happy to play for them and play my [butt] off.”
One funny thing about Reaves joining Vegas … well, could turn out to be kind of funny.
Marc-Andre Fleury is the best practical jokester many professional hockey players have seen, but Reaves is no slouch. They now get their paychecks from the same place.
Already, Reaves said, someone has tried to prank him twice. He suspects it’s Fleury, although Fleury has denied it.
“I was ready for it,” Reaves said. “I had my guard up because I knew I was coming to his team. I’m not sure if it was him or not, but I’m ready for him. He better be ready for me.”
The Penguins acquired Reaves last summer to police their stars and add an element of physicality. Ask anybody around the team, and they’ll tell you that happened. Crosby felt safer. Games weren’t as violent. But there’s no denying that a significant part of the fan base questioned Reaves’ presence.
For Reaves, Pittsburgh was frustrating because he was getting used different than in St Louis, where he, Scottie Upshall and Kyle Brodziak were deployed as a shutdown line, often playing against other teams’ top players.
Suffice to say, that wasn’t the case in Pittsburgh.
“It was a little frustrating for me coming to a team where my role and my responsibility was a lot less,” Reaves said. “But when you have that much talent, it’s hard to get everybody on the ice. I understand that.
“At the same time, I had a blast. I made a lot of friends. It was all positive from that standpoint.”
The turnaround was tough for Reaves. He boarded a 6 a.m. flight Saturday out of Raleigh, was in Pittsburgh with his wife and son for a couple hours, then went that night to Vegas, practicing with his new team Sunday morning before flying to Los Angeles.
“It’s been a little crazy,” Reaves said.
But also fun. A couple teammates have told Reaves about the community where several of the Golden Knights players live — a far cry from the Strip.
“I guess it’s really good for families,” Reaves said. “It’s a little more low-key. It’s not exactly what you would expect out of Las Vegas.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: February 26, 2018, 2:38 a.m.
