The 34-year-old forward was traded to the Rangers by the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday for a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He is entering the final season of the two-year, $3.5 million contract (average annual value $1.75 million) he signed with the Golden Knights on June 15, 2020.
He scored five points (one goal, four assists) in 37 games for Vegas last season and had one assist in 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
"This was the culmination of different discussions I had with Ryan over the past few days in terms of what might make the most sense for him in the future, what might make the most sense where we are with our team and the number of forwards we have," Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said Friday. "I think this was a pretty good outcome. I think there's a real good chance Ryan could get extended in New York for next year, which was important to him. It's important to me that he has that opportunity. … Very popular player with our fans, very popular player in our dressing room."
Selected by the St. Louis Blues in the fifth round (No. 156) of the 2005 NHL Draft, Reaves has scored 101 points (49 goals, 52 assists) and has 937 penalty minutes in 686 games with the Golden Knights, Pittsburgh Penguins and Blues, and eight points (three goals, five assists) in 84 NHL playoff games.
Earlier this offseason, the Golden Knights traded goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks for forward
Mikael Hakkarainen
. Fleury, who was with Vegas since its inaugural season in 2017-18, is its leader in wins (117) and shutouts (23).
"I had good relationships with both (Reaves and Fleury)," McCrimmon said. "I have a lot of respect for both players. At the same time, our job is to do the best things we can for our organization. Our fans like winning hockey teams. We've done a lot of that in our four-year existence in Las Vegas. I think we've done what we can to put the best team on ice."
The Golden Knights also acquired forwards Evgenii Dadonov, Brett Howden and Nolan Patrick in separate trades, re-signed defenseman Alec Martinez, and signed forwards
Sven Baertschi
and Mattias Janmark, and goalie Laurent Brossoit. Patrick and defenseman Dylan Coghlan each is a restricted free agent.
"We'll get to work on our restricted free agents," McCrimmon said. "There's a sequence of events you go through in the offseason. That's where our attention will turn to. … Where we are now, we're going into training camp with this roster, but any general manager in the National Hockey League will tell you anything can change with a phone call."
NHL.com independent correspondent Danny Webster contributed to this report
