Boston Bruins Countdown To Camp: Mike Reilly

From now until the beginning of training camp, Boston Hockey Now is profiling players who will be on, or have a chance to be on, the 2022-23 Boston Bruins. Today’s player: Mike Reilly.

Social Media handles: Twitter – @mreilly93 Instagram – @mikeyreilly5

What Happened Last Year: The Boston Bruins sent a 2022 third round pick to the Ottawa Senators for Mike Reilly at the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline. After he was traded to the Boston Bruins, Reilly had done a solid job of becoming another puck-moving defenseman for the bottom four defensive pairings. He had eight assists in 15 games and then four assists in 11 games during the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. That 26-game sample impressed the Bruins enough that they signed him to a three-year, $9 million contract on the first day of 2021 free agency.

One season into the contract, Reilly has not fulfilled his end of the deal. While there were some injury setbacks to deal with, Reilly still became the opposite of the slick puck over the Boston Bruins thought they were investing $3 million a year in. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound defenseman suddenly was handling the puck like a hot potato as he skated out of the d-zone and through the neutral zone. He finished the season with 35 giveaways and just four goals and 13 assists in 70 games. He then coughed the puck up four more times was held off the scoresheet in five playoff games during the seven-game loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The not-so-good: As mentioned above, turnovers were the biggest issue with Reilly as he seemed to lose his vision coming out of the defensive zone and many times seemed stuck in quicksand. Unless Reilly can somehow regain that form he held just after being dealt to the Bruins at the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline, that’s a tough $3 million cap hit for general manager Don Sweeney and the cap-strapped Bruins to swallow.

Questions To Be Answered This Season: Reilly is part of the Bruins’ massive M.A.S.H. unit entering the 2022-23 NHL regular season but is expected to recover in time for the Oct.12 season opener from a bum ankle that hampered him in the series against the Hurricanes. So the first question will be how does that ankle respond? The second one will be can Reilly regain that confidence, vision and poise the Bruins saw in him down the stretch run of the 2021 season? Finally can Reilly be more of a defensive and physical presence as a depleted blue line tries to help the Bruins stay afloat until they get Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk back?

In Their Words: “There wasn’t much conversation with us about what exactly we needed to do to stay in, but I feel like I should be an everyday guy. You’re a defenseman first and you’re defending, but If you break the team out and get the play going then you’re going to be defending less and playing in the other zone more.

“It makes your life a lot easier. If you’re able to do that, it’s a successful plan. But for me it’s digging in, trying to be aggressive, get on guys quick and trying to take them away quick. I felt like I was doing that before the trade deadline, so just keep doing what I was doing I guess.” – Mike Reilly after getting back into the lineup towards the end of the season.

Overall Outlook: Based on recent conversations with numerous NHL sources, the Boston Bruins have received calls on Reilly’s availability on the NHL trade market but with McAvoy and Grzelcyk out long-term, the Bruins are simply in listening mode right now. That being said, this puck scribe won’t be the least bit surprised if Reilly is moved when those two regulars and Brad Marchand return as the Bruins will look to get cap compliant without LTIR to lean on.