The entrepreneurial Ryan Reaves still driven by his passion for the game

By Justin Emerson

Wednesday, June 17, 2020 | 2 a.m.

Ryan Reaves wanted to clear up a misconception. Yes, he started a brewery in Las Vegas. Yes, he built a house here and has started planning for life after hockey.

But, first, there is plenty of hockey to play and a championship to win.

Reaves signed a two-year extension with the Golden Knights this week not because of any business ventures or lifestyle choices in Las Vegas, but because he wants to play hockey for the Golden Knights.

“For sure I’ve heard people say that you probably could have gotten me cheaper because I have the business and everything, but at the end of the day hockey comes first for me,” Reaves said. “The hockey business decision had to be before the beer business.”

Reaves, a 33-year-old winger, is one of the Golden Knights’ most popular players because of his bruising style on the ice. And, of course, there was the game-winning goal in the clinching game of the Western Conference Finals in 2018 and the game-tying goal in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

He opened 7Five Brewing Co. in late 2018 and has seen that grow to three locations with a fourth coming soon.

“I’m a guy that is trying to ingrain myself in this community because I fell in love with it,” Reaves said. “I don’t think that it was a secret that I love it here and wanted to stay.

“This is the No. 1 place I wanted to be. I didn’t want to leave.”

Reaves, who is set to become a free agent at the end of the season, carried a cap hit of $2.78 million on the two-year deal he signed in 2018. With Vegas needing every dollar it can get against next year’s cap, he came a little cheaper this time around at $1.75 million against the cap in a deal that expires in 2022. 

“He’s widely respected across the league by both teammates and opponents,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “He’s not cheap; he’s honest, he’s tough, he’s hard. He’s a really intelligent player. The coaching staff really appreciates what he does for our team.”

When Reaves signed his last contract, then-general manager and now-president of hockey operations George McPhee said Reaves would keep the “flies out of the honey,” a reference to him playing the lionized-yet-antiquated role of enforcer. He used to do that, with 62 fights in eight seasons before arriving in Vegas.

Whether an enforcer is necessary in today’s NHL is debatable as teams seem less inclined to use a roster spot on a lesser-skilled tough guy over a player who can put the puck in the net. Besides, linemate William Carrier was sixth in the league in hits last year and even star winger Max Pacioretty had two scraps this season, one fewer than Reaves.  

He’s only dropped the gloves six times in his two-plus seasons in Vegas, and has instead seen his scoring numbers increase — 17 of his 48 goals in a 10-year career have come in Vegas.

“In Pittsburgh, there were some nights I was playing four minutes a night,” Reaves said. “When I came here, my minutes almost doubled right away, even though my production in Pittsburgh wasn’t that high. But they obviously saw something in the game that I brought that they allowed me to play and just be myself.”

Rest assured, Reaves is still not afraid to throw his body around, such as when he fought longtime rival Evander Kane in the playoffs last season.

“I’ve caught myself recently saying, ‘I’ve got the itch to put my fist in somebody’s face,’ or lay somebody out into the boards,” Reaves said. “I’m anxious to get back on the ice.”