Bruins buy out Mike Reilly, qualify 9 RFAs

The Bruins have placed Mike Reilly on waivers for the purpose of a buyout, the team announced Friday.

Reilly had one year remaining on his contract that would have paired him $3 million. The buyout saves Boston $2,666,667 million (with a $333,334 cap hit) this season. It will incur a $1,333,334 cap hit penalty in 2024-25.

According to CapFriendly, the B's now have $13,604,166 in cap space to play around with heading into the start of free agency on Saturday. Whether or not it's enough to win a potential Tyler Bertuzzi sweepstakes on the open market (on top of re-signing restricted free agents) remains to be seen. 

Reilly came over from the Ottawa Senators for a 2022 third-round pick at the 2021 trade deadline, putting up 12 assists in a combined 26 regular season and playoff games, before inking a three-year, $9 million ($3 million AAV) in the 2021 offseason. 

The 29-year-old played just 10 games for the Bruins this season, notching one assist, before being buried in Providence where he had 26 points (7g, 19a) in 36 games. In his loan full season as a Bruin in 2021-22, he had four goals and 13 assists in 70 games. 

Boston also announced it extended qualifying offers to the following RFAs: G Jeremy Swayman, F Trent Frederic, F Marc McLaughlin, F Jakub Lauko, D Ian Mitchell, D Reilly Walsh, D Alec Regula, G Kyle Keyser and G Michael DiPietrio. Forward Samuel Asselin and defenseman Kai Wissmann were not qualified.

The Bruins also announced their development camp roster and schedule, which will run next Monday through Friday:

BSJ Analysis...

• Not surprising, at all, to see Reilly bought out, although it was coming down to the wire with today being the deadline. My assumption for the holdup is Boston might have been looking for some way to attach Reilly to a trade. If that was the case, then the easiest fallback was the buyout before today's deadline. A trade never seemed feasible anyway, given the exorbitant prices usually seen on cap dumps. 
• As has been discussed, this was the easiest route for both sides to move on. Reilly is too good for the AHL and surely wanted another NHL opportunity elsewhere. Even if the Bruins might have had some holes on the left side of defense, depending on what they did with Matt Grzelcyk or Derek Forbort, they still would have been better off moving on from Reilly and allowing him to start from scratch. 
• The buyout gives Boston more much-needed breathing room heading into free agency. Swayman and Frederic remain top priorities as RFAs, but the B's have more space to scour the bargain bin, as Don Sweeney alluded to in his post-draft comments. Some intriguing options will hit the market after buyouts like Matt Duchene and Kailer Yamamoto. Could always hold out hope for Bertuzzi, too. 
• Forbort and Mitchell Miller were other candidates for buyouts, although for wildly different reasons. Forbort wouldn't have made as much sense as Reilly, though, considering the savings would have been smaller and the cap hit larger. Meanwhile, maybe the Bruins are just going to pay Miller to stay away. His contract can be buried since it will not count against the cap, and opting for a buyout or trying to terminate the deal might just open up all sorts of rabbit holes in terms of legal action or fights with the NHLPA. Not that the Players' Association would necessarily be defending Miller himself, but any fight there would be on a matter of principle for future contracts. 
• Speaking of trade prices and the like, you'd have to imagine it's a possible reason why Grzelcyk and Linus Ullmark still remain Bruins. Grzelcyk and Ullmark, obviously both good players, don't fall into the cap dump category, but moving either or both certainly would have helped the Bruins with their cap situation and in terms of assets. Teams aren't exactly lining up to help each other these days, though, even for good players. Would imagine potential returns for either player or any other that Boston might have shopped simply weren't up to snuff. Another reason they're still Bruins is more straightforward and might line up better with Sweeney's comments earlier in the week. The Bruins' defense and goaltending are major strengths and will be key in their remaining competitive next season. Why subtract from it if you don't absolutely have to? 
• Moving to the RFAs. No surprises there. Mitchell, Walsh and Regula could all be in competition to fill the right side of defense on the thrid pair with Connor Clifton headed for the open market. Lauko and McLaughlin should be in the mix for duty in the bottom six. Obviously, Frederic and Swayman will command the most impactful money of this group. Both are arbitration eligible, but no one wants it to get to that point. Keyser and DiPietro are organizational depth. 
• Wissmann already had a contract in place to return to the German DEL. Asselin, although a good foot soldier for Providence, was organizational depth.