Cal O'Reilly Ready to Help Lead Flyers Prospects in AHL with Lehigh Valley

ALLENTOWN, PA -- The Philadelphia Flyers spent the beginning of the summer loading up on depth at every position, and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms look to reap the rewards of having an NHL club aggressive in their approach to build not only a competitive team at the NHL level but to integrate high-end veteran talent at the AHL level with their highly touted prospects to build a strong roster at the AHL level too.

One of those new veteran additions is forward Cal O'Reilly, who is entering his 14th season of pro hockey and has captained the AHL's Iowa Wild the previous two seasons while also having served as the team captain on his two previous AHL teams in Rochester and Utica.

Upon becoming a free agent this summer, O'Reilly was approached by a familiar face in new Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher who had previously signed O'Reilly in Minnesota in 2017.

"When I became a free agent they expressed some interest," O'Reilly said of the Flyers organization, adding, "I kind of knew what they are about and how they run their minor league team."

What's important for fans to hear is what O'Reilly said about the direction the Flyers organization is heading and ultimately his decision to sign an AHL contract with the Flyers' AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley.

"They want a good team down there, they want a team that can win to help out their young guys and kids coming up," O'Reilly told Inside AHL Hockey in August. "I want to win, and that's the kind of organization I want to be with."

O'Reilly has had no trouble creating offense in the AHL throughout his career, coming off of back-to-back seasons with more than 60 points and compiling a near point-per-game pace in his 667 career AHL games (120 goals and 461 assists). The Seaforth, Ontario native has also amassed 145 career NHL games as a member of Arizona, Buffalo, Minnesota, Nashville and Pittsburgh. It's his ability to play in all situations that has allowed O'Reilly to continue to be a very successful player.

"I'm definitely looking to make plays and create for my linemates - and create things on the power play - but I take pride in being a 200-foot player and playing both ends being able to play in any situation - kill penalties, take faceoffs, be trusted in key moments of the game," O'Reilly explained. "That's kind of what I've done most of my career."

With several of last year's veteran players having moved on, notably former longtime Phantoms' team captain Colin McDonald and longtime assistant captain Chris Conner, it's clear that Fletcher sees the importance of having quality veteran players around the organization's top prospects.

"That's something I've done for years now, is taking on a leadership role," O'Reilly told Inside AHL Hockey. "And that's just doing the right things and helping show those guys what you have to do to grow your game on and off the ice. Be a good leader, build relationships with the young guys and taking them aside. There's things that when I was younger I looked up to older guys on the team and guys that have been around so I try to do that everywhere I have gone."

While O'Reilly understands his role to be a veteran presence and a leader, he's looking forward to a lot more than just helping the Flyers' incoming rookie forwards along the way.

"The biggest thing is being a leader and doing the right things, but also I want to be on a good team and I want to win," O'Reilly explained. "Having a winning culture in the AHL is only going to help those guys because they are going to see how hard it is to win. And that's going to help them to try to get the next level because teams want winners and guys that know how to play in tough situations."

As for what Phantoms fans can expect, regardless of whether or not O'Reilly becomes the Phantoms' next team captain, is a 'competitive guy' who wants to win.

"I want to do well for [the fans] and for our team. Help be a leader on our team to show the young guys that I can bring it every night, and be one of those guys - especially offensively, but also defensively - in all situations. That's kind of what I hope to do, be very consistent and just bring my best every night."