The Bruins added Mike Reilly at the trade deadline to try to shore up their back end and evidently, they liked what they saw from him. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the defenseman has agreed to a three-year contract with a $3M AAV.
The 28-year-old has bounced around in the early going of his career, spending his first few years with Minnesota, Montreal, and Ottawa. However, after having a limited role for most of that time, everything seemed to click for Reilly last season. He picked up 19 assists in 40 games with the Sens which bolstered his trade market and Ottawa was able to flip him to Boston at the deadline for a third-rounder, a two-round upgrade on the pick they sent to the Canadiens to acquire him the year before.
With the Bruins, Reilly was asked to take on a bigger role than he was accustomed to with Boston’s back end being banged up. He responded quite well, picking up eight more assists in 15 games while logging over 21 minutes a night. That continued in the playoffs as he chipped in with four assists in 11 postseason contests while again averaging more than 21 minutes per game.
That had Reilly well-positioned for a strong market in free agency but instead, he’ll stick around with the Bruins, doubling his previous contract in the process. Meanwhile, Boston now has at least one more veteran in place on the left side of their defense corps but it wouldn’t be surprising to see GM Don Sweeney try to add another one over the coming days to help make up for last summer’s departures of Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara.
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