Mike Reilly hopes deal with Panthers can help defenseman reset his career

The Florida Panthers have a recent track record of getting the best out of certain defensemen.

Newly signed Mike Reilly hopes to do the same.

The eight-year pro was signed by the Panthers on the first day of free agency last Saturday and has had some strong seasons in the NHL. But last year, he played most of his games in the American Hockey League for the first time since 2016-17.

Reilly admits it. He needs a reset.

“Last year was just not a good year by any means,” Reilly said Thursday via Zoom. “But, I think the biggest thing for me was how mentally stronger I could stay.”

Reilly played in 70 games for the Boston Bruins during the 2021-22 season. Last year, the 29-year-old played in just 10 games in Boston and 36 games with the Providence Bruins.

Reilly was on Boston’s opening-night roster and played in 10 of the team’s first 13 regular-season games. From what he describes, players coming back from injuries and salary cap issues left him as the odd-man out.

That meant he had to watch from afar as the Bruins endured on their record-breaking 62-12-5 regular season.

“I’m still really tight with a lot of those guys, so I was excited for them to kind of watch that, and stay in touch with them, and go out to dinner, and see them and whatnot,” said Reilly, who was traded from the Ottawa Senators to Boston in 2021. “They were great to me and [I] kind of learned a lot from the leadership group there.”

The Panthers recent history with defensemen, Reilly said, was part of what lured him to Florida. Aaron Ekblad has been a core piece for many years, but Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling were both recently picked up at a low cost and produced great seasons for the Panthers.

And from an offensive standpoint, Reilly didn’t have that bad of a season in Providence (seven goals, 19 assists in 36 games).

“I feel like they have kind of gotten guys where maybe the year before that kind of really didn’t go their way,” Reilly said. “I feel like I’m kind of in that boat a little bit.”

Reilly crossed paths with Panthers general manager Bill Zito nearly a decade ago when he was playing college hockey at Minnesota. A 2011 Columbus Blue Jackets fourth-round draft pick, he went to two Blue Jackets development camps, where Zito was the assistant general manager at the time.

“He can move a puck, he can skate and so he’s a dynamic kind of two-way guy,” Zito said Saturday of Reilly’s skillset.

However, Reilly never signed with the Blue Jackets and joined the Minnesota Wild instead. The Wild traded him to the Montreal Canadiens in 2018, then the Canadiens traded him to Ottawa three years later.

Being a part of the Bruins organization also meant he saw from up-close when the Panthers upset the Bruins in the first round of the playoffs.

“[I] love the way the team plays and kind of just how hard they compete,” Reilly said. “They got a lot of skill and obviously a high-end work ethic too.”

Reilly said the Panthers culture also stood out to him as he weighed his options after being bought out by the Bruins with one year remaining on his contract. Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Zac Dalpe – a former teammate of Reilly with the Wild — have already reached out to him.

“You just hear from around the league it seems like they have a great culture down there and a really tight group of guys,” Reilly said. “And that’s what I’ve heard even before I ended up signing with Florida.”

Reilly is certainly not alone though as an incoming defensemen. The Panthers also signed Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niko Mikkola and Dimitry Kulikov all on the same day. Injuries to Ekblad and Montour will create a path for playing time, but once they return, it will be a heated competition for ice time.

Ekman-Larsson, Kulikov and Reilly are all on one-year contracts too, as they bet on themselves to receive a raise next season when the salary cap jumps.

It’s a cheap wager for the Panthers, who also lost Radko Gudas and Marc Staal in free agency.

“I definitely know I can kind of get back to where I was kind of before all that,” Reilly said. “That’s why I’m so excited to sign in Florida here.”