The Boston Bruins have acquired defenseman Mike Reilly from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2022 3rd round draft pick.
This trade comes immediately after an embarrassing 8-1 loss to the Capitals, where Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk were absent. Jeremy Lauzon and Jack Ahcan made up the top pairing, which is pretty bad, considering Ahcan is an undrafted 23 year old playing in his second NHL game. This trade definitely bolsters their defensive core, both before and after McAvoy, Carlo and Grzelyck return. Reilly played second pairing minutes in Ottawa, where he excelled offensively alongside rookie Artem Zub. The interesting part here is that Boston decided to give up next year\’s third round pick, considering they still had the one from this year. Reilly has a $1.5 million cap hit, and will become a free agent after the 2020-21 season.
Reilly, 27, has no goals but 19 assists in 40 games for the Senators this year. In his NHL career for Ottawa, the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets, Reilly has scored eight goals with 64 assists for 72 points in 244 games.
As the fire sale continues for another year, Reilly is the next Senator to leave. The value is good, and it is much better than the fifth round pick and Andrew Sturtz that the Senators traded 16 months ago to Montreal to acquire Reilly. Trading Reilly and potentially Erik Gudbranson opens up space for younger players, most notably Erik Brannstrom, to get more playing time.
CarterHud 