Toughness & leadership. This team needed some character last year. We were in shambles and divided during our 8 game losing streak. He's a glue guy. We're also incorporating teenage rookies and an injury prone Fabbri. Reaves would offer some protection. Also he'd help Tarasenko feel comfortable in a new group. Those sort of players help teams win.
Management said this will be addressed in the offseason
You don't need Reaves for toughness and leadership. We need our current leaders to grow some f***ing balls. Reaves is a glue guy but there are plenty of others already here. Vegas and Pittsburgh got along fine without him. He's a good player, but would be priority #20 out of 20 on fixing this team.
I have to agree with
@Dbrownss that Reaves didn't protect squat while he was here. Remember Tarasenko against Colorado, Reaves didn't do sh**. Backes, after the hit by Seabrook...Reaves didn't do sh**. I like Reaves. He's a solid 4th line player, but he's not the fix for the problem with the Blues. The problems with the Blues last year went well beyond a "glue and toughness" guy. They had only 5 top 6 forwards all year. They had an abysmal power play. Many of the key guys got injured for larger stretches.
Thorburn is a glue and toughness guy that played many games for the Blues, maybe not as well as Reaves, but despite how well he did play, that didn't do anything to help this team win. You don't need a guy like Reaves or Maroon (who did fine with New Jersey stat wise, but he was not a huge help in the "intangibles" department like you are referencing.
The Blues need to stop chasing players that have been on Cup teams or the way Cup teams are built because those styles change year in and year out. Nashville was built on an exceptional defense corp, San Jose was built as a solid all around team, Pittsburgh is a predominantly offense team with average defense, Washington has turned into a well rounded team but with an elite group of forwards who play solid team defense. Las Vegas is attack, attack, attack with little thought to defense. William Karlsson said it best, he went from Tortorella (Hitch style) who concentrated on defense to Gallant (Cooper/Sullivan) who said, just go play hockey. The Blues need to concentrate on filling in 3 top 9 roles that include a top 6 C and top 6 W. They also need to concentrate on team chemistry and the PP. If they fix two of those things, they're back in the playoffs. That doesn't include a Thorburn or Reaves.
