Canadian center Mike O’Leary, 27, has signed a contract to play the remainder of the current season for Ilves Tampere, the Liiga club announced on Tuesday. O’Leary played seven regular-season games and five playoff games for Ilves at the end of last season, where he recorded one assist in a checking-line center role.
“Mike brings a diverse range of skills to our team and options for our coaching in different situations,” said Ilves sports director Timo Koskela. “He is a committed team player who was one of our best players in our playoffs last season.”
Born and raised in Halifax, N.S., O’Leary played four years of college hockey for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Undrafted, he signed with the New York Rangers late in the 2019-20 season and played one game for the Hartford Wolf Pack before the AHL season was stopped due to the onset of the Covid pandemic.
From 2020 to 2024, O’Leary played in the AHL for Hartford and for the Iowa Wild, the AHL farm team of the Minnesota Wild, but was released midway through the 2023-24 season, leading to his first tour of duty with Ilves.
O’Leary split this season between the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals and the ECHL’s Florida Everblades, who are affiliated with the Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues, respectively.
O’Leary joins an Ilves team that currently leads the Liiga standings with 67 points in 37 games. Its roster includes another former Minnesota prospect, defenseman Simon Johansson, former NHL right winger Carl Klingberg, and prospects Lukas Svejkovsky, Jakub Málek (New Jersey Devils), Kalle Väisänen (Rangers), Samu Bau (Utah HC), Sebastian Soini (Minnesota), and 18-year-old St. Louis prospect Ondřej Kos, who just won a bronze medal with Czechia at the World Junior Championship in Ottawa.
According to the team’s announcement, O’Leary will arrive in Tampere on Thursday.