Black History Month Spotlight: Ryan Reaves

 It shouldn't be too much of a surprise who I chose to highlight in this post, since I've made no secret of the fact that Ryan Reaves is one of my favorite players in the NHL. He was with the Blues when I began watching, and joined the Penguins shortly after that, but I became a big fan after he was traded to the Golden Knights...and I was ecstatic when he joined the Rangers! Unfortunately, the Rangers were less so and didn't use him very much, leading him to request a trade...but that worked out well for me as he joined the Wild, a team I watch a lot of since they already had Mats Zuccarello and Marc-Andre Fleury. 

When I originally envisioned this series I was going to highlight players when they got to 10 cards, but I reconsidered that as I have not been bringing in many cards lately, so I'm showcasing Ryan Reaves with only 9 cards in my collection. Of the 9, five are base cards, 3 are parallels and 1 is a promo. I do have another card waiting to ship at COMC  but I'm not going to have my order shipped yet, so I am sure I will have something to share for him when I update next year. 

2017-18 O-Pee-Chee #355

2017-18 Vegas Golden Knights Inaugural Season #22

2018-19 O-Pee-Chee #108

2019-20 Upper Deck #196

2020-21 Upper Deck Gold Speckled Rainbow #433

This is a card that is only available on epack but I got it from COMC. 

2021-22 O-Pee-Chee #64

2022-23 MVP #52

2022-23 MVP Ice Battles #52

2022-23 Upper Deck #122

He is one of the very few players I've scanned in full! That's not an accident, I prioritize certain players, but it is only possible because I don't have any cards of his early career, which I could have gotten before I really knew who he was. He's been in the NHL since 2007 but as you can see my oldest card of him is from his 10th season. His 2022-23 Upper Deck base card is actually my only card from the set, thanks to Chris The Collector, who kindly sent it to me. I was unable to find the set at retail and don't have the money for a hobby box at the moment, so this will likely be my only card from the set for quite a while. 

Ryan is a second-generation athlete. His father Willard played in the Canadian Football League. I do not have any cards of his father but I hopefully will pick one up on COMC or via trade at some point. I try to get a card of family members of players I like. 

Hopefully he will get a Wild card before too long. 

He may not score many goals but he brings a joy to the game and really seems to relish his role as an enforcer. One particular incident stands out to me...Tom Wilson, the player on the Capitols who purposely injured Artemi Panarin of the Rangers in the end of the 2020-21 season, didn't even register a hit the first time the Rangers played the Capitals when Ryan was on the team! 

When I was checking his Wikipedia page to see what his father's name was, I learned he also has a brother Jordan playing professional football and is a direct descendant of Bass Reeves, who is a very interesting Old West lawman and his story is well worth a read in its own right.