Reaves & Co.: The 3 Best Enforcers in St. Louis Blues History

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The enforcer. A player with one sole purpose for any team- to log as many penalty minutes for fights in a single 82-game NHL regular season.

Guys like 13-year veteran Ryan Reaves come to mind when talking about a fighter or enforcer. With a rivalry like the Blues and Blackhawks always a conductor for fisticuffs, there’s no reason why the former haven’t had their own bunch of on-ice warriors throughout the years.

But who, may you ask, are the best of the Blues’ best? Let’s rank them right here, in no particular order!

13 Jan 1999: Tony Twist #18 of the St. Louis Blues stretches out on the ice before the game against the Buffalo Sabres at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. The Blues defeated the Sabres 4-2. /

1. Tony Twist (1989, 1994-99 with St. Louis)

With a last name that couldn’t be any more indicative, the 9th-round draft pick certainly brought the action to the Blues throughout his tenure with the team in the mid to late 90s. He was destined to be a fan favorite.

Twist came up in an era where several now-iconic fights went down, from the 1991 St. Patrick’s Day Massacre between the Blues and the Blackhawks to 1997’s “Brawl in Hockeytown”. Twist delivered his own style of beatdowns, totaling 688 PIM in 6 seasons with St. Louis, with 64 individual fights in nearly 300 career games with the team.

His initial stint with St. Louis came in 1989 where he had goose eggs in goals, assists, and points before heading to the now-defunct Quebec Nordiques. That year he racked up similar PIM totals each season with both teams, before eventually having 433 career minutes in the sin bin with the Quebecois squad.

SAN JOSE, CA – MARCH 16: Ryan Reaves #75 of the St. Louis Blues gets tangled up with Michael Haley #38 of the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on March 16, 2017, in San Jose, California. (Photo by Rocky W. Widner/NHL/Getty Images) /

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!

8 Mar 2001: Reed Low #34 of the St. Louis Blues and Scott Parker #27 of the Colorado Avalanche square off during the first period at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Missouri. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Elsa/ALLSPORT /

3. Reed Low (2001-07 with St. Louis)

Despite a very short career that at least saw him be loyal to the Blues to no end, Low played 250 games with St. Louis. He finished off with a handful with division rival Chicago, maybe just for the fun of it.

But still, he had 3 goals and 16 assists for 19 career NHL points during his time in St. Louis. He’d only also have no goals with Chicago, no assists or points to speak of there.

What made Low last, however, was his physique- 6’4″, 235 is nothing to sniff at! And even just like Reaves, he totaled the same number of career PIM as he did- 694.

OK, fine, off by 1 minute. But, who cares about technicalities in how long a guy fights?

That’s just a short list of some of the tough guys the Blues have had in their franchise’s history. Though it’s a dying art form, maybe someday they’ll have another guy like Reavo, because that guy was no slouch in slinging it!

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