The Montreal Canadiens added some veteran depth to their defensive pipeline Wednesday, signing Reilly Walsh to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal carries the NHL minimum cap hit of $850,000.
Walsh, 27, spent last season in the KHL with Barys Astana. That’s the Kazakhstan-based team. And he put up some legit numbers: 16 goals, 30 assists, 46 points in 68 games. That ranked third among all KHL defensemen. The minus-24 rating is less pretty, but it’s worth noting that team was a mess defensively as a whole.
The Framingham, Massachusetts native was originally drafted by New Jersey in the third round back in 2017. He played for the Chicago Steel in the USHL before spending three seasons at Harvard. At Harvard he racked up 78 points in 96 games. So this is a guy who has always been about generating offense from the blue line.
He turned pro in 2020-21 with the AHL’s Binghamton Devils and had 15 points in 33 games. He made his only NHL appearance so far during the 2021-22 season, picking up an assist for New Jersey in an overtime loss to Ottawa. That’s it for NHL time.
Most of Walsh’s pro career has been in the AHL. He had 84 points over 141 games across two seasons with Utica, then got traded to Boston in June 2023 for Shane Bowers. He put up 28 points in 60 games with Providence, signed with the Kings in July 2024, and had 32 points in 70 games for Ontario. Now he’s coming back to North America on a Canadiens deal.
The plan is for Walsh to provide offensive punch for Laval in the AHL. But if Montreal’s NHL club runs into injuries on the blue line next season, the organization is more likely to call up younger guys like David Reinbacher or Adam Engstrom before turning to Walsh. He’s organizational depth with a track record of scoring at the minor league level.
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