He is a real guy

did sub-par for Bruins for a few years, then was a cap/depth casualty. Was good in Providence too, and i think filled in ok in FLA, but always gets bumped do to depth on good teams

IIRC when he as traded to Boston, he had an unreal regular season and postseason (maybe like a 20-ish game sample size) - he was great. He turned that into a three year deal at $3M AAV and was mid to sub-par in the first year of the deal, brutal in the second year, and thats why he was bought out.

Guy has talent... he has just never been consistent.

So top contending teams have good depth? Who knew 😂

No offense to the isles but they don’t exactly have the best roster

He was fine in Boston but Forbort was needed for the PK and grzelcyk’s father is Neely’s golfing buddy.

Was a really good pickup for the Bs, but him and Gryz were redundant after they acquired Lindholm. Gryz was more well rounded and with the flat cap and Forbort's role on the PK, they just didn't have any space for him. I've always been a fan, fringe top-4 guy on alright teams, better off on 3rd pair with contenders

I mean, his overall numbers with Ottawa were pretty stellar. He had puck moving talent, and when he played with Zub it really balanced things well for him. The problem was when he messed up it was a complete implosion, and he really fell off when Zub finally started getting time with Chabot. Also Ottawa just had young LD coming in, they no longer needed him. Perfectly adequate 2LD for a team that was not close to good though.

thats how mike reilly works. you get impressed by him for a 20 game stints then end up regretting giving him a shot.

Mike Reilly probably :

one of the most "CF Approved™" trades I ever saw was Mike Reilly to the Isles for a 3rd, two summers ago.

I think he's a very specific type of player and fits what the Islanders need - as the Bruins fans upthread said, he was only squeezed out because Forbort was better suited for the PK and he was more easily cut loose than Grzelcyk. He strikes me as a player who plays very well when he's paired with a more defensively sound partner who can let him wander a little bit - almost reminiscent of a dollar store Nick Leddy from a few years back. Happy to get him for basically nothing at this point - but I'd keep Aho at this point as a guy whose proven he can be a solid depth player. Good teams maintain depth and Aho is cheap enough to hang onto, with all the injuries they've been piling up.