Ryan Reaves appeared to dislocate his finger in fight with Garrett Wilson
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Jonathan Ouimet
Mar 21, 2026 (5:36 PM)
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Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Ryan Reaves gave Ryan Warsofsky a fresh headache Saturday after a fight with Garrett Wilson appeared to leave the Sharks winger with a hand injury.
The clip moved fast for a reason.
Reaves dropped the gloves, the scrap turned awkward, and his finger looked badly out of place before the sequence was over.
That's the kind of moment that hits a bench right away.
Reaves doesn't play big minutes, but his role still matters when a game starts to boil over.
San Jose has leaned on him for 48 games this season, and he has 32 penalty minutes in that stretch.
He's there to push back, settle things down, and give the bottom six some edge.
Now the question flips from toughness to availability.
A hand issue is different from a bump or bruise, especially for a veteran who plays a straight-line, contact-heavy game.
And for Warsofsky, this lands at a bad time.
The Sharks sat at 32-29-6 and 70 points entering Saturday, so even one lineup hole matters on a team still hanging in the Pacific mix.
Ryan Warsofsky may need a quick lineup adjustment
Reaves has 3 goals and a -13 rating this season, which tells you exactly where his value sits. It's not about offense.
His average ice time is 7:58, so San Jose can replace the minutes. Replacing the presence is the tougher part when games get nasty along the wall or after whistles.
There's also the contract angle in the background. Reaves is playing on a deal carrying a 1 350 000 cap hit in 2025-26, so he isn't some fringe tryout story the Sharks can shrug off.
On the other side, Wilson is a fresh call-up story in Philadelphia. He signed a two-way NHL deal on March 5 and had played 1 NHL game this season before this latest scene.
That added some bite to the exchange.
Wilson is trying to stick, and Reaves never backs away when the temperature jumps
Saturday's clip looked like classic hockey-guy stuff.
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