Montreal Canadiens Season Preview: Mike Reilly

During the month of August, we are taking a closer look at 31 Montreal Canadiens players and previewing their 2019-20 season. What will next season look like for Mike Reilly?

The Montreal Canadiens added a depth piece to their roster when they acquired Mike Reilly from the Minnesota Wild. They sent a 2019 5th round draft pick to the Wild at the trade deadline in 2018 to get the left shooting defenceman.

Reilly was a 4th round pick in the 2011 NHL Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He went to play NCAA Hockey with the University of Minnesota where he flourished, scoring 42 points in 39 games in his final season in College hockey.

Reilly did not agree to a contract with the Blue Jackets after leaving college, so he became a free agent. He chose to stay in the state of Minnesota and signed an entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild.

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His first pro season was the 2015-16 campaign and he split time between the Iowa and Minnesota Wild. He had one goal and seven points in 29 games for Minnesota and five goals to go with 23 points in 45 AHL games with Iowa. He didn’t exactly steal a roster spot away from a veteran or dominate but he did show enough promise to suggest he could be a puck-moving defenceman in the future for an NHL team.

The following season was much of the same as Reilly spent the bulk of it in Iowa. He had 30 points in 57 AHL games but just ten points in 38 NHL games. During his third season with Minnesota, they clearly decided it was time to move on and they were not going to turn this guy into a top four defenceman like they once hoped.

Reilly was sent to the Habs for a fifth round pick. The Wild were in the thick of a playoff race and did make the postseason that year. You don’t usually see a team fighting for a playoff spot selling off depth pieces, especially on defence as teams seem to never have enough depth on defence. Reilly showed some offensive potential but his defensive game was not up to the Wild’s standards.

He finished the 2017-18 season with eight points in 19 games for the Habs. Last season, he had 11 points in 57 games for the Canadiens.

Reilly is a great skater, there is no questioning that ability. When he gets the puck is his own zone and skates it up ice and makes a play at the attacking blue line, he looks like an exceptional puck-moving defenceman. He can do that with some regularity, but just not enough consistency to grab onto a prominent NHL role.

There were games early last season that it looked like Reilly could be a top four defenceman for the Canadiens. His skating, ability to move the puck up ice and his willingness to jump into the rush to create odd man scoring chances made him look great.

However, as the games wore on and Reilly was given a more prominent role, the warts in his game began to shine through more often. His defensive awareness and positioning were exposed as huge weaknesses when he was on the ice for over 20 minutes per game and playing against tough competition.

His ice time was regularly above 20 minutes per game in October and close to it in November. By January he was down to 15 or 16 minutes when he played and in the press box from time to time. After the trade deadline, Reilly was basically forgotten as he played just one game and was a healthy scratch for every other game.

It got to the point that I was actually quite surprised when I saw he got a new contract from the Montreal Canadiens this summer. Not only did he re-sign, he was given a two-year deal at $1.5 million per season. This was an odd contract for a guy who wasn’t trusted to put gear on during hockey games for two months last season.

2019-20 Role

The Canadiens clearly have a plan for Reilly. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have given him the two year term and they would not have given him such a large annual salary. The thing is, they already have three left shooting defenders who are clearly better options than Reilly. Victor Mete and Brett Kulak outplayed Reilly last season and were regulars down the stretch while Reilly watched from the stands.

The Habs also signed Ben Chiarot to a three-year deal at $3.5 million per season. Obviously, with that kind of contract Chiarot is not going to be taking a back seat to Reilly.

That leaves Reilly as the obvious seventh man on the depth chart. He could theoretically move to the right side to get more ice time but Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Christian Folin and Noah Juulsen are battling for ice time on that side of the ice.

If everyone is healthy, Reilly will be fulfilling the same role he had last season. This being the NHL, everyone will not be healthy for all 82 games. Teams always use far more than six defenders throughout the season, and Reilly will be the first player they turn to when one of their top six defenders can’t go on a given night.

He is a veteran of 160 NHL games at the age of 26. At least the Canadiens have someone they know has played lots of NHL games in the past who they can turn to when a player is injured. This also allows the younger defencemen like Cale Fleury and Josh Brook to remain in the minors all season and develop properly without being rushed into the NHL.

The second year on Reilly’s contract still confuses me. I do know that this season he will be the seventh defender and can fill in now and then when injuries occur. Marc Bergevin knows you can’t have too many defencemen so he decided to keep a familiar face around for a little extra depth.