One would think that the Nashville Predators are done making any significant changes to their roster as the regular season is underway, but the long list of players that hit waivers on Sunday leaves a possibility for another addition.
The Boston Bruins made a somewhat surprising decision by placing defenseman Mike Reilly on waivers.
The Bruins have placed Nick Foligno, Mike Reilly and Chris Wagner on waivers.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) October 9, 2022
Reilly was traded to Boston at the trade deadline in 2021 and performed well enough to earn a three-year contract right before free agency that year. His base stats and did drop off in 2021-22 and so did his ice time, as there was nearly a six-minute gap between his average ice time in the 2021 playoffs and the 2022 playoffs.
Reilly is still a good enough player that he can help some teams that need depth, and an added bonus is that those teams will be giving up no assets in return.
According to JFresh, Reilly has some solid defensive metrics that may get overlooked, including breakout passes and defending the rush:
Biggest name (for me) on the waiver wire: Mike Reilly. Very strong underlying results on both the Sens and Bruins in a top four role. Has been one of the strongest break-out passers in hockey the past few years, strong rush defence numbers as well. pic.twitter.com/ZcaBMUq7ua
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 9, 2022
The Nashville Predators are of course loaded with defensemen, but they would at least have to think when an opportunity like this is on the board.
Why Reilly is not a realistic fit for the Nashville Predators
Despite Reilly falling right into the Predators’ hands, they would be wise to pass on him. He would be playing third pair at absolute best, and with Dante Fabbro, Jeremy Lauzon, and Mark Borowiecki at times in the mix, when would Reilly see ice time?
Assuming Poile has high confidence in Fabbro, Lauzon and Borowiecki for the third pairing, then he’ll probably resist the urge of claiming Reilly.
And let’s be honest, there is a reason the Bruins are putting Reilly up for grabs without gaining anything back in return. It is because his contract makes him expendable.
For a guy that the Predators would have little use for to begin with, swallowing two years of his contract at $3M per year would be unwise. It especially could screw the team over considering that they already have some tough decisions to make in terms of extending or not extending certain players.
Although the Predators do have cap space to add him right now, they may not next year and would not add anything of note to the team. Overall, bringing Reilly in has the potential to create more problems than actually help out.
Let’s also not forget that Reilly was bouncing around from team to team before getting his contract with the Bruins, and so far, has not lived up to it enough for the team to even want to keep him.
Adding Reilly to the Nashville Predators off waivers would only give them extra rotational depth in case anyone gets injured, and you can find that for a lot cheaper than $3M per year for the next two years.