Cal O'Reilly

Cal O'Reilly

O'Reilly in April 2016.
Born (1986-09-30) September 30, 1986
Toronto, ON, CAN
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 188 lb (85 kg; 13 st 6 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
NHL team
Former teams
Buffalo Sabres
Nashville Predators
Phoenix Coyotes
Pittsburgh Penguins
Metallurg Magnitogorsk
NHL Draft 150th overall, 2005
Nashville Predators
Playing career 2006present

Cal O'Reilly (born September 30, 1986) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing with the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). Cal's younger brother Ryan also plays with the Sabres.

Playing career

O'Reilly as the captain of the Utica Comets.
O'Reilly with the Predators in 2010.

O'Reilly grew up in the small community of Varna, Ontario playing minor hockey for the Huron-Perth Lakers (MHAO). After his minor midget season he was drafted in the 8th round (150th overall) by the Windsor Spitfires in the 2002 OHL Priority Selection. O'Reilly played the 2002–03 season with the St. Marys Lincolns Jr.B. team of the Western Ontario Hockey League (OHA), where he led all rookies in scoring and made the WOHL All-Rookie Team, prior to suiting up for the Windsor Spitfires the following season.

In his rookie season (2003–2004) O'Reilly struggled offensively out of the gate, scoring just 3 goals and tallying 18 assists for a total of 21 points, and was a -1 on the season, but was a strong defensive contributor on a defensively weak team, and also greatly improved his penalty killing and stick checking ability throughout this season. In the playoffs, O'Reilly dressed in 3 of the team's 4 games, tallying 1 assist and was a -minus 2. The following season (2004–05), O'Reilly came back as a man on a mission, tallying 24 goals and 50 assists, for a total of 74 points, finishing 2nd in Team Scoring, while also establishing the best plus minus rating on the team at +9, providing more evidence to O'Reilly's strong defensive game as a Centre. During the 2005 playoffs, O'Reilly helped lead the Spitfires to the second round, tallying 4 goals and 5 assists, for 9 points, placing him tied for second in team playoff scoring.

O'Reilly would return for the 2005-2006 OHL regular season as a third year Spitfire veteran to truly lead by example, setting the team scoring pace by tallying 18 goals and 81 assists (tied for 3rd in the league with Wojtek Wolski). The closest Spitfire trailed O'Reilly by 47 points (Ryan Garlock 20 goals, 32 assists, 52 points)

O'Reilly was drafted 150th overall in the fifth round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Nashville Predators. He played with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) from 2003–04 to the 2005–06 season. He made his NHL debut in 2008–09.[1] O'Reilly scored his first NHL goal against Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick on March 28, 2009.[2]

On July 7, 2011, O'Reilly signed a one-year contract with the Nashville Predators.[3] At the start of the following 2011–12 season on October 28, 2011, O'Reilly was traded from the Predators to the Phoenix Coyotes for a 4th-round draft pick in 2012.

On February 1, 2012, O'Reilly was picked up on waivers by the Pittsburgh Penguins. He would make his debut with the team 3 days later against Boston Bruins. He recorded his first point with the Penguins on February 5 against the New Jersey Devils.

On July 16, 2012, O'Reilly signed a two-year contract with Kontinental Hockey League team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk.[4]

After a successful debut season with Metallurg, due to injury O'Reilly failed to replicate his form and was released from his second year after only 14 games. On November 19, 2013, O'Reilly signed a standard player contract (SPC) for the remainder of the 2013-14 season with the Utica Comets of the AHL. He was instrumental in turning the Comets season around, scoring 45 points in 52 games in falling short of the playoffs.

On July 2, 2014, O'Reilly signed a contract with the Comets parent NHL club, the Vancouver Canucks on a one-year deal.[5] O'Reilly was returned on assignment to Captain the Utica Comets for the 2014–15 season.

On July 1, 2015, O'Reilly signed a two-year one-way contract with the Buffalo Sabres, worth $700,000 per year, uniting him with his newly acquired brother Ryan.[6]

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2003–04Windsor SpitfiresOHL6131821230110
2004–05Windsor SpitfiresOHL6823507316114594
2005–06Windsor SpitfiresOHL681881998738110
2005–06Milwaukee AdmiralsAHL20000100110
2006–07Milwaukee AdmiralsAHL781847652041230
2007–08Milwaukee AdmiralsAHL801663792261230
2008–09Milwaukee AdmiralsAHL6713566920112680
2008–09Nashville PredatorsNHL113252
2009–10Milwaukee AdmiralsAHL35931408
2009–10Nashville PredatorsNHL3129114
2010–11Nashville PredatorsNHL38612182
2011–12Nashville PredatorsNHL50112
2011–12Phoenix CoyotesNHL222352
2011–12Portland PiratesAHL51120
2011–12Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PenguinsAHL21010108125490
2011–12Pittsburgh PenguinsNHL60110
2012–13Metallurg MagnitogorskKHL32316193072242
2013–14Metallurg MagnitogorskKHL140112
2013–14Utica CometsAHL52738456
2014–15Utica CometsAHL761051611023217194
2015–16Rochester AmericansAHL47623296
2015–16Buffalo SabresNHL203472
NHL totals 133 16 32 48 14

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.