Enforcer Ryan Reaves says he is retiring, leaving the NHL with three visor-less players

Enforcer Ryan Reaves said Wednesday he is retiring from hockey at age 39 after playing more than a decade and a half in the NHL, leaving just three players left who do not wear a visor.

Reaves skated in 1,075 games from his debut in 2010 through last season and racked up 1,253 penalty minutes, playing for St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Vegas, the New York Rangers, Minnesota, Toronto and St. Louis. His 3,225 hits rank seventh on the all-time list.

The tough-guy forward announced he was calling it a career in an Instagram post.

“Unfortunately, Father Time remains undefeated,” Reaves wrote. “Every hit, every fight — it’s taken its final toll on me. I love this sport more than almost anything in this world. It has taken me to places I never thought I’d go and has introduced me to people I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. The fans, the haters, the ups, the downs. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“I never thought this day would come. I thought I was invincible. I thought I could play forever, but like all good things, it must come to an end.”

Reaves, an imposing figure at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, fittingly ended the post with: “You can rest easy knowing the corners are a little safer today. Mic drop, gloves drop. Reavo out.”

A Winnipeg, Manitoba, native, Reaves was a fifth-round pick of the Blues in 2005. He grinded through several years in the minors, earning a call-up for his toughness and eventually leadership that helped him stick at the highest level of the sport.

Nashville’s Ryan O’Reilly, Dallas’ Jamie Benn and Minnesota’s Zach Bogosian are the final remaining no-visor players. The NHL and NHL Players’ Association agreed in 2013 to mandate visors for newcomers, grandfathering them like helmets were decades earlier.

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