More than hard hits: Ryan Reaves helps Wild be more 'difficult to play against'

The matchup was almost eight years ago, when Matt Dumba was a rookie on the Wild blue line, but Dumba still remembers squaring off against a Blues squad in the first round of the playoffs that rolled out a wrecking ball of a line featuring Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves.

"I knew as a young defenseman get back for pucks as quick as you can and get out of there," Dumba recalled. "You didn't want to wait around and see what was coming."

Ott has retired and is now behind St. Louis' bench as an assistant but four teams and about 500 games later, Reaves has landed on the other side of that Central Division rivalry after joining the Wild in a trade last month from the Rangers.

And he's brought that trademark grit with him, enhancing the rugged reputation the Wild aim to have in the NHL.

"I hope that teams find it difficult to play against us," coach Dean Evason said. "Not only just physically but because we're hopefully relentless — not only in the defensive zone but in the offensive zone, as well, hunting pucks down and keeping pucks in.

"That is our identity, and that is what we want to be."

In the 10th game since suiting up for the Wild, a span in which they have gone 7-3, Reaves leveled his biggest hit yet with the team on Wednesday night in the 4-1 victory against Detroit at Xcel Energy Center.

Just minutes after the opening faceoff, he crushed the Red Wings' Filip Hronek with an open-ice check, a seismic collision that left Detroit down a defenseman the rest of the game.

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said afterward Hronek wanted to return to action, but the doctor held him out.

"I think Fil would want his play back, obviously exposing himself," Lalonde said.

Hronek, who was carrying the puck through the middle of Detroit's zone, looked to his left before absorbing the hit from Reaves.

"He locked eyes with me," Reaves said. "I saw him look at me, and then he just kind of turned his head and held onto the puck. I'm not sure exactly what happened. I hope he's OK, but you gotta know when I'm on the ice and definitely don't skate at me like that."

No penalty was assessed on the play, and the 6-2, 225-pound Reaves said the key to keeping hits legal is not leaving his feet.

Factor in the other check he had later in the second period in the corner against Gustav Lindstrom, which preceded a scrap with Ben Chiarot, and Reaves is up to 25 hits with the Wild. At 2,670 overall during his 13-season career that's also included stops in Pittsburgh and Vegas, the 35-year-old winger ranks third among active NHLers since his debut in 2010-11.

"I kind of hit like a football player," said Reaves, who played football growing up and whose dad, Willard Reaves, was a running back in the NFL and CFL. "I don't always turn sideways, which sometimes when you turn sideways you catch head. A lot of times I go straight on and I kind of push with my hands, so it's a lot of chest. That was one of those."

But hitting isn't the only way to be a tough team to face.

There's closing gaps to take away time and space, winning board battles and establishing an aggressive forecheck — basically a tenacity that can tax the opposition.

"Even if we're just getting pucks in deep and getting our bumps in early, I think that makes a difference," Dumba said. "Teams know that it's going to be a hard night because these guys are finishing checks and they're working really hard to put pressure on us."

This isn't a new approach for the Wild.

Dumba has had a knack for dishing out heavy hits in his career, while Jake Middleton's arrival last season via trade bulked up the back end. And don't forget the Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno line, which epitomizes sandpaper hockey.

"I always thought this team played gritty, especially the Ek line," said Reaves, who has three assists with the Wild and has been skating alongside Mason Shaw and Connor Dewar. "We always had good battles, especially in the playoffs. They're big bodies. I was matched up against them a lot at home, especially. I loved the way they played. They play honest. They play really hard and physical.

"They do their thing, and then I help out our line and the rest of the lines with maybe creating a little more space but definitely a little more physicality and a little more grit."

That was one of the reasons why the Wild acquired Reaves from the Rangers on Nov. 23.

Aside from adding a spark and spunk, Reaves also bolstered their size, a presence that supports the style they're after.

"That's how we want to play every night, just be physically imposing," Dumba said. "When they're going back for pucks or even coming up the ice like that, you've got to be aware of where you are on the ice and how guys are attacking you."