Montreal Canadiens: What to expect from Mike Reilly

Mike Reilly is set to make his debut with the Montreal Canadiens against the New York Islanders, and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact he has.

One thing a lot of hockey minds said would hurt the Montreal Canadiens going into the 2017/18 season was their lack of puck movers on the blueline. Victor Mete and Jeff Petry were the Habs’ main option in that category as Shea Weber is an all-around defenceman. Mark Streit was the team’s attempt at keeping the mobility on the blueline alive, but that was an experiment that was shut down very quickly.

Joseph Morrow ended up being a player to draw into the lineup because of that and Jakub Jerabek for a short sample of games. In the last week, the Habs have made good use of mobility on defence with the call-up of Noah Juulsen and placing Mete on the top pair with Jeff Petry.

Acquiring Mike Reilly was another good move by Marc Bergevin to continue with the mobility movement on the Habs’ defence. Granted, we are talking about someone who was on the bottom pair in Minnesota and will be on the bottom pair here.

Reilly’s strength is what he can do with the puck. He can skate well with it and most importantly find players exiting the zone with a nice first pass. His main issue is that he’s not the best defensively. However, if you look at the heat maps via Hockeyviz, Reilly is an improvement over Morrow in the defensive zone especially when it comes to shots allowed in the high-danger regions.

The 24-year-old had the majority of his starts in the offensive zone (57% vs. 43% in the defensive zone) and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Claude Julien use him the same way. Additionally, Reilly’s quickness and skating ability could help bail Jordie Benn out of tough spots he sometimes puts himself in. There have been many times where Benn has gone for a pinch or a big hit, and there hasn’t been anyone there fast enough to get back in time. With Reilly as his partner, you have someone able to read a situation and quickly react to it.

More from Editorials

• Montreal Canadiens: Senators Rebuild At Crisis Point As Kent Hughes Moves Forward
• Montreal Canadiens: Jonathan Drouin Continues Charity Work In Montreal After Leaving Habs
• Montreal Canadiens: Laval Rocket Lineup Going To Be Must Watch
• Montreal Canadiens: Jesse Ylönen Contract Extension Analysis
• Montreal Canadiens: Top 31 Prospects – #31 Quentin Miller

Perhaps Reilly does for Benn what Juulsen has done for Karl Alzner since the 20-year-old made his NHL debut. Alzner has had relatively quiet performances since then, save for the fight with Steven Stamkos, and that’s what you expect from someone who was brought on to be a shutdown defenceman.

As far as scoring goes, Reilly’s numbers in the AHL point to an offensive game in the NHL that has yet to be brought out. 23 points in 45 games during the 2015/16 season and 30 points in 57 games in the 2016/17 season with the Iowa Wild are not bad at all coming from a defenceman. There may be more to his offence than two goals and eight assists and perhaps taking more shots would help in that department.

Reilly has walked away from a game with no shots a lot of times this season and the most he’s gotten in a single night was three back in November. Keeping the puck out his net is going to be his focus every game, but if he’d like to reach the level of production he had in the AHL, sending more rubber towards the net could be a good way to start.

As long as the Habs place Reilly in the best situations to succeed, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be a positive addition to the team. And in turn, the Habs will be a more fun team to watch with more speed and skill on its roster, even if they continue to lose.

Next: Another Way To Use Those Picks

What do you think Reilly will do for the Habs’ blueline? Can he be an improvement over Morrow? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.