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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ryan Reaves wasn’t brought here to score.
“‘Silky mitts’ has never been used with Ryan Reaves before,” he quipped.
But when Reaves finally cashed in Tuesday — craftily batting a rebound out of the air for his first goal of the season — the bench erupted.
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And, somewhere in the Twin Cities, an 8-year-old kid should take the credit.
“I went to my kid’s hockey game yesterday and a bunch of other kids were there watching and they were just giving it to me saying they had more goals than me,” Reaves said, smiling. “So, wherever you are: Eat that!”
You couldn’t blame Reaves for being motivated in this one after he finished an assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick in the Wild’s 2-1 shootout victory over the Islanders. He’s playing for his spot in the lineup after Minnesota acquired forwards Marcus Johansson and Gustav Nyquist (dealing a 2024 third-rounder for Johansson and a 2023 fifth-rounder for Nyquist).
And Reaves isn’t alone.
No, the depth-scoring additions won’t move the needle compared to the arms race going on in the Eastern Conference ahead of Friday’s trade deadline. And Nyquist, rehabbing a shoulder injury, likely won’t be available until around the playoffs. But the Wild hope the deals provide a little spark to their offense and a kick in the butt to a group of forwards in lengthy goal droughts. As much as they are comfortable in close and low-scoring games — thanks to the stellar play of goalie Filip Gustavsson — it’s not a sustainable model.
NHL trade grades: Wild acquire Gustav Nyquist, Marcus Johansson to address forward depth
via @TheAthletic https://t.co/AE6IOmqapY
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) March 1, 2023
“We have enough grit, we have enough toughness, size,” general manager Bill Guerin said. “These two players I think are what we were missing, what we needed, and that is they’re both highly-skilled guys. They’re excellent skaters, and I think they’re going to provide us with just that natural ability out there. They’re both effortless skaters and just high hockey-sense guys that can make plays.
“I think we could really use that.”
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The Wild have the goaltending, with Gustavsson’s career-high 39-save performance another example of that. They’ve got the special teams, with the penalty kill in a 25-for-25 stretch. But unless Kirill Kaprizov puts his team on his back — as he did in Sunday’s overtime win — or Minnesota gets an unlikely goal scorer (see: Reaves on Tuesday, Brandon Duhaime the last few weeks), its margin for error is slim to none.
Look at the recent goal droughts for Wild regulars:
Jordan Greenway: 25 games
Marcus Foligno: 23
Matt Boldy: 14
Freddy Gaudreau: 19
Mason Shaw: 24
Connor Dewar: 29
Mats Zuccarello: 1 in the last 14
Johansson, who had 13 goals in 60 games for the Capitals, isn’t going to be a game-changer who lifts an entire lineup. But Johansson — who was a popular teammate in his brief stint in Minnesota in the 2020-21 season — could get a chance on the other wing of Boldy, allowing others to slot down. The oft-injured 32-year-old is big, skates well and is responsible in his own end. And, apparently, he already has a seat at the card table on the team’s charter. Once news of Nyquist and Johansson trickled through the Wild locker room, Gustavsson said his countrymen — including Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin — had a message for regular card game member Duhaime: “You’re out!”
Gustavsson’s calm and confidence in the net give the Wild a chance in every game. He had 2.27 goals saved above expectation in this game, according to Natural Stat Trick, and his sliding pad stop on Zach Parise in OT was one of his many game-saving saves. Coach Dean Evason said his team didn’t have any “juice.” Gustavsson gave the Wild all they needed.
“Just another day at the office,” he said.
Gustavsson is a key reason Minnesota has points in seven straight games, moving them into second place in the Central Division, one point behind Dallas for first. They’re also seven points ahead of Calgary (ninth place in the West). Since Nov. 29, Gustavsson is 16-6-3 with a.936 save percentage, 21.87 goals saved above expected.
Filip Gustavsson is going to be in Zach Parise’s nightmares tonight, what a stone cold save in OT! Gus says not tonight #mnwild pic.twitter.com/gmv9Sgsyym
— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) March 1, 2023
The Wild will need to make the playoffs to see Nyquist, who will soon move his rehab to Minnesota. Guerin said Nyquist was high on their trade target list for months, and it was a “bummer” when they found out he got hurt in January. The initial belief was that Nyquist was done for the season, but when the Blue Jackets brass reached out to Guerin this past week and told him the winger could return earlier, Minnesota went back in pursuit.
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The Wild used the fifth-rounder they got in being the broker for the Dmitry Orlov deal to Boston to get Nyquist. Essentially they paid $88 thousand of actual money for a flier on a potential add for the playoffs. The fact Columbus retained 50 percent of Nyquist’s remaining salary made it an easy gamble.
“It’s a chance we’re willing to take,” Guerin said.
While Guerin had said his team’s recent play motivated him to be “very active” at the deadline, he was never going big-game hunting. Sure, there was interest in Patrick Kane, but the Blackhawks’ superstar was only going to go to the Rangers, as he did Tuesday. The Wild didn’t want to give up the first-round picks or top prospects needed to snag Timo Meier or Ryan O’Reilly. And over the past week, the market for rental forwards shrunk, including potential target Evgenii Dadonov going to the Stars.
But the Wild have the space to add $7.4 million in player salaries by Friday and you don’t get the sense that they’re finished. At least, they’re still trying.
“I can never promise that I’m done or not done,” Guerin said. “You just don’t know what phone call you’re going to get.”
What does that mean? If the Red Wings continue to fade, could they become sellers and dangle Tyler Bertuzzi, whom the Wild have had an interest in? Even if so, Guerin said they “won’t waver” from the plan to not give up major assets for rentals. There’s still some smoke around James van Riemsdyk and the Flyers. And it wouldn’t be surprising to see Greenway moved if there’s enough interest by Friday.
Greenway picked up his first point in 23 games Tuesday. He feels like he has been making strides in his game (his line with Duhaime and Gaudreau has been strong defensively lately).
Across the last four games, #mnwild 3rd line of Jordan Greenway, Freddy Gaudreau, and Brandon Duhaime has not allowed a 5v5 goal and have surrendered just 0.84 expected goals against across 34:23 TOI. They’ve outscored opponents 2-0 in that span and have an xG share of 66.6%
— Brett Marshall 🌲 (@B_Marsh92) March 1, 2023
Greenway said he tries to not pay attention to trade rumors or what’s going on in the media.
“It’s not very stressful for me, to be completely honest,” Greenway said. “I’m just focused on going out there and doing what I’ve got to do. If I’m traded, I’m traded. If not, great.”
Greenway said that internal competition can be a good thing. Evason noted that there are going to be some “tough decisions,” but they plan to bring all 14 forwards (Sam Steel has been a healthy scratch) on their trip Wednesday to Vancouver. Johansson is expected to practice and play Thursday “at left wing somewhere,” Evason said. Evason, who coached against Nyquist dating back to their AHL days, called him a “scary scorer.” Nyquist had three 20-goal seasons in his career and 10 in 48 games for a bad Columbus team this year before his injury.
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“As players, it definitely gives us the notion that we’re going for it,” Greenway said. “You know we’re adding guys and doing what we need to do to complete the team. It’s exciting.”
So was the finish to Tuesday’s game. The Islanders and Wild play a similar, tight-checking game, so it was a bit boring for a while (other than Gustavsson’s saves), with Reaves’ goal and heavyweight fight with Ross Johnston. And it took another clutch goal by Gaudreau in the shootout (he was the only one on both teams to score) to seal the two points.
But they wouldn’t have had that chance had it not been for Reaves, whose goal came late in the first to tie the game. Reaves laughed at how he scored, noting baseball was the only sport he didn’t play growing up. But if anyone watches a Wild practice, they’ll see the veteran winger consistently working on his tips around the net.
Evason smiled: “Maybe he’s the scorer that we need.”
Tell em' Reavo 😂#mnwild pic.twitter.com/ldLzlHqMvn
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 1, 2023
(Photo of the Wild’s Ryan Reaves fighting the Islanders’ Ross Johnston: Bruce Fedyck / USA Today)
