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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Ryan Reaves has been on injured reserve and missed the past two games with an undisclosed lower-body injury, but that hasn’t stopped the veteran forward from making an impact on the Rangers from the sidelines.
After getting frustrated and leaving the ice during the Rangers’ morning skate prior to their victory over the Kraken on Sunday, Reaves rejoined the team for practice Monday at Rogers Arena in an orange non-contact jersey.
“I was happy to see him out there skating today,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “He lasted most of the practice, so that’s a good sign. Yesterday I was a little concerned, but he looked a lot better. I don’t know when he’s going to play, but it was a step in the right direction.”
Despite not participating in line rushes, Reaves made a point to skate with certain units and act as opponents would, using his stick to try and disrupt the play while applying pressure on the rush. It was clear Reaves just simply wanted to make as much of an impact on practice as he could despite not being able to fully play.
That’s just been Reaves’ M.O. since the Rangers acquired him from Vegas in the offseason. He’s been an infectious presence in the locker room and on the ice. Even when he was initially injured during the Rangers’ loss to the Flames last week, Reaves insisted on remaining on the bench to cheer on his team.
“Reavo is one of our leaders,” Gallant said. “He’s a guy that came to this team and he makes us a more aggressive team and he’s a character in the dressing room, the guys really like him. He wants to be out there. We tell him, ‘Make sure you’re ready to go.’ I thought today he looked much better than he did yesterday. So that’s a positive for us and our group.”
The forward lines and defensive pairings remained the same during practice on Monday.
Defenseman Jarred Tinordi skated with Patrik Nemeth as the third defensive pair, while rookie Nils Lundkvist took extra reps with Libor Hajek. Asked if the decision to sub out Lundkvist in favor of Tinordi was based on who the Rangers are going to play rather than the player’s performance, Gallant alluded to the former.
“We always look at the other team,” Gallant said. “There’s no doubt for sure.”
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