Ottawa Senators Acquire Mike Reilly from Montréal Canadiens
Dorion sends Sturtz and a 2021 5th to Montréal.
With a crushing amount of injuries on the blue line, it has been rumoured for weeks that Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion would make a move to bring reinforcements to the back end.
Those rumours came to fruition tonight, when it was announced that the Sens had acquired defenceman Mike Reilly from the Montréal Canadiens, in exchange for Andrew Sturtz and a 2021 fifth-round pick.
News Release: The #Sens have acquired defenceman @mreilly93 from @CanadiensMTL in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick in the 2021 @NHL Draft and forward Andrew Sturtz: https://t.co/LFm2fP13tg
— Sens Communications (@Media_Sens) January 2, 2020
Reilly, 26, is a native of Chicago, IL. A fourth-round, 98th overall, pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2011, he opted not to sign with his draft team, instead playing college hockey for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers until 2015. From there, Reilly became a UFA, and signed with the Minnesota Wild, before being traded to Montréal in 2018. Through 174 NHL games, Reilly has posted seven goals and 34 assists, to go with 58 penalty minutes.
His contract expires after next season, at an AAV of $1.5M. With this in mind, Reilly seems to be a prime candidate to be flipped at this year’s deadline, or perhaps in the offseason, barring some sort of breakout year with Ottawa.
Sturtz, meanwhile, was signed to a two-year entry-level contract by the Sens in April of 2018. Through 35 career games with the Belleville Senators, he has scored 11 points.
An interesting note mentioned in the release, this trade marks the first time that the Senators have traded with their divisional rival since June 24th, 2001, when they swapped Andreas Dackell for an eighth-round pick.