- Hurricanes sign Mike Reilly to a one-year, two-way contract
- Deal pays $850,000 in the NHL and $450,000 in the AHL
- Read below for Reilly’s numbers and where he fits on a crowded Carolina blue line
The defending champs brought their No. 7 defenseman back for another year.
Carolina announced Thursday that it signed defenseman Mike Reilly to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal pays him $850,000 at the NHL level and $450,000 in the AHL.
Reilly turned 33 in July and has been around a while. He broke in with Minnesota back in 2015-16 and has played 460 regular-season games since, putting up 19 goals and 114 assists.
Last season was his first in Raleigh. He worked as the No. 7 defenseman, dressed for 42 games, and chipped in a goal and eight assists while averaging 14:58 a night.
Injuries kept pulling him up the depth chart. Reilly got into two playoff games during the Cup run and picked up two assists filling in for Alexander Nikishin.
Raleigh’s blue line is crowded again. Jaccob Slavin, K’Andre Miller, Jalen Chatfield, Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere are all back, and it is a big reason Carolina is favored to repeat.
That puts Reilly behind the top group alongside Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Juuso Valimaki. Joseph signed his own one-year deal on Tuesday:
Nikishin is the name still hanging over the group. The restricted free agent put together a strong rookie season and has spent the summer in trade rumors while his camp and general manager Eric Tulsky try to find a number.
A league-minimum two-way contract does not solve that. It does give Tulsky one more defenseman with real NHL games on his resume if the Nikishin standoff runs into the season.
Carolina raises its Stanley Cup banner on Sept. 29 when Florida visits Lenovo Center.
