Bruins' Mike Reilly Was Almost Claimed By Canadiens On Waivers

In training camp, the Boston Bruins elected to send defenceman Mike Reilly through waivers. This would have cleared some cap space and made their defensive picture more clear. He ended up passing through without being claimed, and is in the Bruins' lineup for now.

He appears to still be the odd man out when Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk return. The Montreal Canadiens were tempted to claim Reilly off of waivers, but his cap hit prevented it, per Patrick Lortie. The Canadiens are also right up against the cap, but they need help and experience on their defence. A deal could possibly be worked out so that the Canadiens have cap space to add Reilly to their defence group.

Reilly is an eight-year veteran in the NHL and has played 333 games between four different teams. He is a solid third pairing defencemen that doesn't focus heavily on offence. He has scored 12 goals and 98 points in his career, but added 271 blocked shots and 303 hits.

The Canadiens' oldest left defenceman is 22 years old, and all three of them are on entry-level contracts. They could definitely use the veteran presence and option on that side of the ice. Unfortunately the Bruins made the error signing Reilly to a higher AAV and didn't anticipate the depth options that would be available to them for much cheaper.