Count Don Cherry as someone excited to see the Pittsburgh Penguins add enforcer Ryan Reaves to their team.
Cherry praised the acquisition of Reaves on Twitter Sunday, calling him “the toughest guy in the league.”
The Penguins traded pick No. 31 in the 2017 NHL Draft along with forward Oskar Sundqvist on Friday to the St. Louis Blues for Reaves and pick No. 51. Even Reaves himself was surprised by the move.
But Cherry said the deal was inevitable after Penguins captain Sidney Crosby suffered another concussion during the team’s second-round series against the Washington Capitals.
The 30-year-old Reaves has 27 goals, 51 points and 695 penalty minutes in 419 career NHL games. According to HockeyFights.com, he had six fights last season and has fought 47 times throughout his eight seasons in the NHL.
Those fights are why Cherry likes the move for the Penguins.
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Only had 6 fights you say? Yes but nobody wanted to fight him. I guarantee the guy that crosschecked Crosby in the face wouldn’t have done so had Reaves been cruising around. Tarasenko, Blues leading scorer and point guy with 39 goals and 36 assists, just loved Reaves around. He’s not a happy camper today with that trade.
[cite]— Don Cherry via Twitter[/cite]
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