Wild's Ryan Reaves plays 800th NHL game, helps team gear up for playoff push

When he started out in the NHL, Ryan Reaves thought playing 100 games would be a "cool" accomplishment. Almost 13 years later, Reaves is closing in on much bigger benchmarks.

"The next one will be 900 then hopefully 1,000 after that," he said.

Reaves suited up for his 800th game on Monday when the Wild continued their seven-game homestand at Xcel Energy Center against the Panthers. The forward rejoined the fourth line after he was scratched on Saturday in the team's 3-2 shootout victory over the Devils.

"It makes me feel old, that's for sure," Reaves said of his NHL workload. "It feels good, though. It's crazy that I'm still in this league and still doing what I'm doing. It's fun to think about, for sure."

Most of Reaves' résumé occurred with the Blues, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2005, but he's had some memorable stints since then — especially come playoff time.

After six trips to the postseason with St. Louis, Reaves went to the Stanley Cup Final with Vegas in 2018 during the Golden Knights' inaugural season. The 36-year-old also been with one of the final four teams each of the past three seasons, most recently competing in the Eastern Conference final with the New York Rangers. That's who traded Reaves to the Wild on Nov. 23 for a 2025 fifth-round draft pick.

"We have a lot of leadership here. I think I can just be one of those guys," Reaves said. "I definitely don't have to be the guy or anything like that just because of my age. I think we've got a lot of leaders on this team that I can just kind of slot in and help them out whenever I can."

"All these points are going to start mattering, but the way we style our game has to start feeling like a playoff atmosphere because once you get into the playoffs, there's no time to adjust," Reaves said. "It's just hit the ground running. We have to start treating our game like it's playoff."

Reaves' return meant someone had to exit the lineup, and the Wild made Sam Steel a healthy scratch for the first time this season.

Coach Dean Evason said sidelining Reaves on Saturday was not a performance-based decision and that also applied to Steel.

"We just made a choice to take somebody out and put Reavo back in against a grittier group in Florida," Evason said.

In his first season with the Wild after signing a one-year, $825,000 contract as a free agent, Steel has already tied his career high in points with 22 and his eight goals are a new personal best. But he hasn't scored in 11 games, a span in which he recorded only one assist.

"The production hasn't been there, that's for sure," Steel said. "I feel like I've done some pretty good things, but obviously it definitely has to be better. I'll have to take a look at it and come back and be better."