Ryan Reaves spent three and a half seasons as the muscle for the Golden Knights.
He fought just nine times in that time span, with his reputation as a pugilist serving as a deterrent (along with diminished appetite league wide for fighting).
Reaves still found himself a fan favorite, and had some entertaining moments along the way including his still ongoing feud with Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson.
These…uh, interesting jerseys were introduced by the Vegas Golden Knights as part of the Reverse Retro initiative from adidas and the NHL to be worn in the 2020-2021 season. The Golden Knights version paid homage to the Las Vegas Wranglers (with the red) and the Las Vegas Thunder (with the “V” design).
They were certainly not the most popular jerseys from the set around the league, but they definitely made a statement.
Vegas wore these sweaters in five games February 9th through April 9th of the 2020-2021 season. Ryan Reaves wore his in four of those five games, missing the March 31st contest.
The wear on this jersey is very light. It mostly consists of a few fabric pulls in the sleeves, as well as in the body. It has Reaves custom shortened fight strap.
The back of the shirt has one small stick/puck mark between the back numbers, and the right sleeve has some very obvious threading issues that led to a loose match to 2-3 games. You can see that in the image above.
Beyond that, the jersey is fairly pristine as you would expect from a guy who typically plays less than 10 minutes a night.
Reaves scored 0 goals and had 1 assist in the sweater.
He did fight in this reverse retro sweater on February 9th against Nicolas Deslauriers that was mostly a draw with both men exchanging blows but no real takedown or knockout punch delivered.
Reaves tenure with Vegas was filled with a plethora of almosts.
The Golden Knights were perennially one of the best teams in the NHL during his time in the desert, but something always seemed to get in the way of their ascent to a Stanley Cup championship. Whether it was the inevitable run of the Capitals, or bad refereeing against San Jose, or a letdown against Montreal, things didn’t end quite like they hoped.
The big guy played in 209 games for Vegas, scoring 18 goals and 24 assists to go along with his 9 fights.
He left as a fan favorite, and his reverse retro is a great addition to my Vegas collection.