Mitch Marner Calls Ryan Reaves A 'Legend' As Other NHL Players React To His Retirement
Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews and several other NHL players reacted to Ryan Reaves’ retirement, sharing their thoughts on the veteran enforcer after his 16-season career.
Ryan Reaves has retired from the NHL after 16 seasons. The former Pittsburgh Penguins forward announced his retirement on Wednesday. Reaves played his final NHL season with the San Jose Sharks after spending time with the St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs. After he shared the news on Instagram, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Max Domi, several players and others around the NHL responded with messages for the veteran forward.
Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews and others react to Ryan Reaves
Mitch Marner was one of the players to react to Reaves' retirement post, writing, “Happy retirement legend!!" Marner also shared an Instagram story with a photo of himself with Reaves and added, “1 of the best to do it. Happy retirement 75! Cheers to the next chapter brother”
Auston Matthews also responded to Reaves' post, writing, Hell of a run my dog!. Max Domi shared his message as well, saying, Love you brother, What a career.
The San Jose Sharks posted, Congrats on a heck of a run. Will Smith called Reaves a “Legend,” while John Klingberg wrote, Congrats buddy. P.K. Subban, now an ESPN analyst, also congratulated Reaves, writing, “congrats Reavo! What a run! Big up!”
More NHL players celebrate Ryan Reaves' career
Scottie Upshall shared a longer message about his time playing with Reaves, writing, “Congrats on retirement, Reavo! Loved playing with you and crushing IPAs on the plane after games. Thanks for letting me blindside guys, finish hits late and run my mouth knowing you were always there to protect me, Hell of a career, brother!.”
William Karlsson also shared a message, writing, “An honor to have played with you, enjoy retirement brother" Emily Karlsson congratulated Reaves as well, writing, “You're an effing bad ass,congratulations on an amazing career”
Jonathan Marchessault also reacted to the announcement, writing, “It was unreal playing with you little buns, see you soon” Brett Hull added, “Love ya kid,” while Carlo Colaiacovo wrote, “Great run buddy! Mad respect”
Ryan Reaves reflects on his 16-year NHL career
Reaves also opened up about his decision in his Instagram post. He wrote that making the NHL was difficult, but staying in the league for 16 seasons was even harder. He also said the game gave him much more than he expected during his career.
“Every hit, every fight—it's taken its final toll on me,” Reaves wrote. He added that he may not be on the ice anymore, but he will always be close to hockey in one way or another.
Reaves finished his NHL career with 962 games, 66 goals and 140 points. He also recorded 1,253 penalty minutes and 3,225 hits while playing for seven teams.