With the conclusion of the 2024 NHL draft, there are plenty of new prospects in all 32 NHL organizations. For the Edmonton Oilers there was one player they wanted bad enough to trade their way into the first round for.
This prospect was Sam O’Reilly, and here is all you need to know about the newest Oiler.
Who is Sam O’Reilly?
| Position | Handedness | Height | Weight | TOI: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centre | Right | 6’01 | 183 LB | 17:24 |
O’Reilly was born March 30, 2006, in Toronto, Ontario. O’Reilly is a player who developed in the GTHL, and one who jumped on the radar of OHL scouts playing for the Vaughan Kings U16. Posting 17 goals and 17 assists in 34 games during the 2021–22 season, he then jumped on the radar of OHL scouts.
At the conclusion of the 2021–22 season with the Kings he was selected in the second round, 37th overall in the 2022 OHL priority selection draft.
O’Reilly’s on-ice production
Playing most of the 2022–23 season in the Junior B, GOJHL, with the London Nationals, O’Reilly then got the first taste of OHL action in five games that season.
| Year | Draft Relative | League | Team | GP | G | A | P | Playoff GP | Playoff G | Playoff A | Playoff P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–23 | D-1 | OHL | London Knights | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D-1 | GOJHL | London Nationals | 35 | 26 | 37 | 63 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 11 | |
| 2023–24 | D+0 | OHL | London Knights | 68 | 20 | 36 | 56 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 12 |
Earning his way up the lineup, the 6’1” forward impressed with a 56-point season and a Memorial cup appearance. O’Reilly regularly appeared in the top 64 prospect rankings throughout the season.
It was during the OHL playoffs and Memorial Cup where O’Reilly’s game took off to another level finding more of an offensive upside leading to him getting selected in first round of the NHL.
Strengths
Compete level
O’Reilly undoubtably has a high end compete level through his relentless motor, play support, and exertion of defensive pressure. The Toronto born forward was one of the best forecheckers in the entire OHL last year. O’Reilly is relentless and quite versitile no matter where he slots in on a lineup.
His motor allows him to be anywhere and everywhere he needs to be on the ice. O’Reilly never serves as a play passenger and is always involved with plays that highlight his endurance, who is positional aware and responsible on both the forecheck and backcheck.
With the high end motor O’Reilly has he can serve as a quality play disruptor who generates turnovers, and as a result can generate high end chances and serve as a shutdown defensive centre.
Instincts
O’Reilly is a forward that jumped on scouts radars for his defensive instincts, and deception.
The Knights forward also excels in defensive awareness, and has quality defensive instincts.
O’Reilly excels at exerting defensive pressure everywhere on the ice through above average play anticipation, an active stick on the move, board battle effectiveness, and good hand eye to intercept passes while interrupting lanes. This furthers his ability on the forecheck when his motor is taken into consideration.
In transitional play and around zone entry he displays quality changes of pace that create space, offensive/defensive unpredictability, and show early hints at above average puck poise. These factors combine to make the London forward especially effective on the breakout.
Puck skills
O’Reilly has a quick give-and-go style of offence that is possible because of high end passing skill, and puck protection that makes play support possible.
Through these O’Reilly thrives due to above average vision and play identification furthering chance generation off the rush. In addition this allows him to be a somewhat capable facilitator in zone as this give and go allows for some high end fast passing plays.
This particularly explains his 1:32 of power play time per game for the 2023–24 season, and why he started 46% of his shifts in the offensive-zone.
The forward is an offensive threat at the OHL level. He has all the tools to have a breakout season next year in the OHL.
Beyond that, whether or not O’Reilly can unlock more offensive elements to his game this at the next level remains to be seen.
Physicality
In zone the Knights forward plays a capable net front presence who consistently battles for good body leverage, while serving as a good screen. The forward excels at creating space for himself that can further increase the quality of chances for.
This is best exemplified by the fact that O’Reilly averages 1.34 hits per game, (and 0.71 hits against) this past season. In a bit of a contrast O’Reilly only won 45% of his puck battles this past season but expect both hits and puck battle effectiveness to naturally increase as he matures.
Through this inherent physicality O’Reilly is able to excel in exerting defensive pressure through puck battles, tie ups, and the occasional shot block. All of these contribute to his 2:00 of penalty kill usage in Dale Hunters special teams.
The young Canadian is a physical wrecking ball with clean hitting form and this phyciality element is something that would be something that could translate into a top nine, bottom-six role with most NHL teams.
Areas of improvement
Offensive upside
There are a handful of issues with O’Reilly’s offensive upside, some of the more evident issues revolve around his lack of offensive creativity/instincts, which often produce nothing passes around the slot resulting in turnovers.
Possession is key to offensive creation so look for O’Reilly to improve in the faceoff dot, from his 48% win percentage and this is an aspect players get better at as they age.
Other elements of his offensive game that raise some concerns is his lack of distinct lane creation, which could add even more layers to his game. This is something that could come with more experience and confidence as the player gets older.
Skating
Skating is a minor concern with O’Reilly. These issues are evident through the foundation of his skating which is a quite narrow base that can produce balance issues. There is also a lack of full leg extension that hints at reduced push off power and to compensate he needs to take more strides.
From a skating base there are minor issues around agility as well, which if sorted would help further increase his forecheck and backcheck potential even more.
One noticeable offensive element is his shooting posture, as he remains quite rigid and lacks that same full extension/lean to generate more power behind his shots as well. This shooting posture might be a contributor to his only 58% shot accuracy.
These are issues could be helped with something like a power skating coach.
His next steps
With the Oilers as contenders there is no rush on player development, so expect the Oilers to send him back to Dale Hunters London Knights for the next two season.
With that being said the next steps for the young forward would be to get prepared for the next OHL season, where he is a likely breakout candidate.
Projection with the Oilers
O’Reilly projects to be a capable top-nine checking defensive minded two-way forward at the NHL level. Expect him to suit up with the Oilers sometime in the near future.
NHL ETA would point towards three to four years.
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