RALEIGH, N.C. — Had Mike Reilly been offered another contract by the New York Islanders during the offseason, he likely would have accepted it. However, that opportunity never materialized.
“I met with Lou [Lamoriello] after the season. It was kind of, let’s see how things shake out here with the rest of the team and stuff and see where it goes,” Reilly, now with the Carolina Hurricanes, said Thursday before the Islanders fell 6-2 to Carolina. “And obviously, they let him go. There wasn’t too much from New York at all.
“I think my agent [Pat Brisson] talked to [Mathieu] Darche once, early June or so. There was nothing there. If there was an opportunity to come back, I definitely wanted to, but there was nothing there.”
If that didn’t make the writing on the wall clear, the Islanders winning the first overall pick and the right to draft Matthew Schaefer surely did.
Reilly ended up signing a $1.1 million deal with the Hurricanes instead of returning for a third year on Long Island. He got a measure of revenge on Thursday by scoring a shorthanded goal against his former team.
“I shouldn’t say I was sad. Obviously, there were some great times there, for sure,” Reilly reflected. “I kind of saw it coming a little bit that I would probably have to go a different route, and that’s what happened.”
Though Reilly initially came to Carolina as the Hurricanes’ seventh defenseman, injuries to Jaccob Slavin and K’Andre Miller have opened a pathway for him in the lineup, including Thursday’s game against the Islanders.
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“I think it’s been a good first year so far,” Reilly said. “Just like New York, a lot of guys have been here for many years. It’s a similar group in a way, and there are a couple of new guys this year, obviously. But you can tell just coming into Raleigh and seeing how these guys work, how they go about their business. They’re in the playoffs every single year, making runs and whatnot.”
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour praised Reilly’s contributions, saying he has added stability to their defensive corps.
“He’s been around, he understands. You know what you’re getting,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s not going to wow you and do something that’s ‘Oooh [wow].’ He knows how to play. I think he’s probably played every system there is, so it’s not like this is new.”
Meanwhile, Alexander Romanov was activated off injured reserve and returned to the lineup for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury on October 16 against Edmonton. Romanov played 19:40 alongside Tony DeAngelo.
“I thought he moved the puck well,” coach Patrick Roy said. “I was very happy with his game.”
With Matthew Schaefer playing his 10th game, it’s now official that the Islanders will use a year of his entry-level contract.
https://nypost.com/2025/10/31/sports/mike-reilly-gets-early-revenge-after-not-being-re-signed-by-islanders/
