Islanders claim Mike Reilly off waivers, clearing cap space, roster spot for Panthers
Florida has a surplus of NHL-level defensemen on its roster, and another solid blueliner coming off IR soon
The Florida Panthers brought in a plethora of NHL-level defensemen over the summer as the team prepared to begin the season without a pair of key blueliners.
The emergence of an NHL-unknown turning into an extremely quality rearguard was a welcomed development, but now it’s led to a logjam of talent that needed to be addressed.
Veteran Mike Reilly was one of several defensemen that Florida signed during the offseason while anticipating the team being shorthanded on the back line due to Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour both recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
Fast forward to the present, where the Panthers are now fully healthy on the blue line and have a surplus of defensemen who are all worthy of a roster spot in the best hockey league in the world.
That’s why Reilly found himself on the outside looking in and was subsequently waived by Florida on Friday.
The hope, on the Panthers end, was that Reilly would clear waivers and join the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, adding some veteran depth to a club that has been the beneficiary of excellent play by a stable of rookies.
Neither happened.
Reilly was plucked off the waiver wire by the New York Islanders on Saturday after playing in just two games with Florida and being a Panthers healthy scratch for over two dozen others.
Following the move, the Panthers currently have 22 of a possible 23 players on its NHL roster.
Florida also has an additional $1 million of salary cap space now that Reilly is on the Islanders’ books.
It seems the Panthers plan, at least for now, is to carry eight defensemen on the NHL roster, and that doesn’t account for the return of Josh Mahura, who was placed on Injured Reserve last week with a lower-body injury and was ineligible to return until Friday at the earliest.
“We took Uvis (Balinskis) out, he absolutely did not deserve to come out of the lineup, but neither did anybody else,” Maurice explained on Friday morning. “For me, Dmitry (Kulikov) doesn’t deserve to come out of the lineup, but I’m going to have eight NHL defensemen here very soon and I won’t come out and say I’m going to platoon them, because I won’t. But I am going to work real hard at making sure a guy doesn’t sit out too long. I also don’t want to be jerking guys in and out of the lineup.”
As far as the team is concerned, nobody deserves a demotion, and they’re going to hang on to the full group and try to make it work, personnel-wise.
That will include, at least for the immediate future, one extra forward and two additional defensemen.
Once Mahura returns from IR, Florida may be forced to make another move, or carry nine defensemen on the active roster.
Similarly with Reilly, if the Panthers want to remove a defensemen from the roster, all but one of the aforementioned nine (including Mahura) would have to pass through waivers.
Only Balinskis, who is on an entry-level contract, is waivers exempt.
Either way, those extra players, the ones on the roster bubble, are going to be expected to push their teammates during practices and remain just as involved and engaged as everyone else.
“We’re going to have to get used to this a little bit,” Maurice continued. “The same would be for Steven Lorentz, with Barkov coming back. The thirteenth (forward) and the seven-eight (defensemen), they need to bring that energy when they’re not (in the lineup) and they need to be a positive force in our room, and I think all those guys will be.”
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