The Carolina Hurricanes have spent the last three days piling up contracts, and Thursday brought another familiar name back into the mix.
Mike Reilly, a Stanley Cup champion defenseman, is returning on a one-year, two-way deal worth $850k in the NHL and $450k in the AHL. It’s a bit of a surprise after he remained on the open market all summer, but it adds another layer to a blue line that is already crowded.
Reilly first joined the Hurricanes last summer after missing most of the 2024-25 season with the New York Islanders, when an injury helped uncover a previously undiagnosed heart condition. He was originally brought in as the club’s seventh defenseman, but his role came quicker than expected.
He picked up an assist in his first game with the team against the Sharks, then scored his first goal later that month against the Islanders on a short-handed wrap-around. Over his first nine games, he had points in five. Reilly bounced in and out of the lineup after that and finished the regular season with a goal and eight assists in 42 games.
His season wasn’t over there. After Alexander Nikishin suffered a concussion in Game 4 against Ottawa, Reilly stepped into the lineup for the Philadelphia series.
In Game 1 of the second round, he assisted on both first-period goals. He also played in Game 2, and that ended his postseason.
By reaching 42 regular-season games, though, he qualified to have his name engraved on the Cup.
Now he’s back in a defense group that already looks overloaded. The Hurricanes have the five defensemen from their Stanley Cup lineup - Slavin, Miller, Chatfield, Walker, and Gostisbehere - plus Reilly, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Joel Nystrom, Charles Alexis Legault, Juuso Valimaki, and Ronan Seeley. Nikishin is not included in that count because he has not signed a new deal yet.
There is, however, one wrinkle. Reilly shoots left, and so do seven of the other defensemen listed there, Nikishin included.
The right-shot options are limited to Chatfield, Walker, Nystrom, and Legault. More depth never hurts, but the balance on the back end is still something to watch.
Reilly could come into camp and play his way onto the Opening Night roster as the seventh defenseman. He could also end up needing waivers to reach Chicago at the end of camp. Either way, the Hurricanes have added another experienced piece to a group that already has plenty of competition.
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The Hurricanes kept adding to their blue line picture by bringing back Mike Reilly on a one-year, two-way contract, a move that gives the club another experienced depth option as camp and roster decisions loom. Reilly skated in 42 regular-season games last season and also found his way into Carolinas Stanley Cup run, giving the team another familiar face in a defense group that already has several returning pieces.
His presence matters all the more with restricted free agent Alexander Nikishin still unsigned and his status becoming part of the offseason chatter. Reilly was one of the defensemen Carolina leaned on when injuries and matchup needs forced the group to shift during the spring, and the Hurricanes now have one more layer to their internal competition while the bigger questions on the back end remain unresolved. [Read more 🡒]
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Cerrato is one of the more intriguing pieces in that mix after signing his three-year entry-level contract, while Nadeau and Ekberg also enter the showcase with some momentum and a chance to show how close they are to NHL consideration. For Carolina, these sessions are more than a developmental checkpoint - they are a first real look at which prospects are positioned to turn a strong summer into a bigger role, and which ones might force a longer conversation before camp ends. [Read more 🡒]