The 3 Best Enforcers in Blues History
By Andy Knapp
2. Ryan Reaves (2010-17 with St. Louis)
A 7-year Blues veteran before moving on to teams like the Penguins, Golden Knights, New York Rangers, and Wild, ol’ “Reavo” was a beast for St. Louis. He was known for his toughness even before beating up poor Dallas Stars 2nd-year man Curtis McKenzie in Game 3 of the Blues’ 2016 second-round series against the Stars, which they won on the road in 7 games, by the way!
It was about as good of an idea as when 26-year-old rookie Robin Ventura decided to fight grizzled 46-year-old Nolan Ryan back in August 1993. The similarity here is how one-sided both fights ended up being.
For comparison, Reaves had been in the league for a few years, and McKenzie had been in and out of the Stars’ system with their AHL affiliate in Austin. But enough about that poor recently removed rookie at the time!
With 7 years spent with St. Louis, Reaves logged an impressive 695 PIM with a surprising 27 goals and 24 assists for a decent 51 points total. So he’s a guy that can fight and score on occasion- very rare for the general enforcer type!