O'Reilly is a self-described two-way forward whose offensive game took a jump last season with London in the OHL.
Sam O’Reilly is hungry to win.
He is a power forward; a shutdown defender, one whose offense is perhaps underrated.
And now, O’Reilly is a Bolt.
The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired the 19-year-old forward in a Tuesday trade with the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for unsigned prospect Isaac Howard. O’Reilly was the 32nd overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and comes to the Lightning organization fresh off helping the London Knights to the 2025 Memorial Cup Championship, standing alone atop the Canadian Hockey League (CHL).
“Obviously when you first hear you’re getting traded it’s a little bit of a nervous reaction, but once I found out it was Tampa it was an exciting time for me and my family. I couldn’t be more grateful for the Lightning,” O’Reilly said.
“They’re a winning organization. They know what they’re doing,” he continued. “Their coaching staff, their players, it’s from the top to the bottom. Everything stands out to you in how much they want to win. The way they play is the right way to play, and they don’t take anything for granted and they’ve gone and earned their championships.”
O’Reilly on Thursday described himself as a two-way forward who plays with power and strength, someone who is responsible and reliable in their defensive zone but also carries offensive punch. He called on two current NHL players as possible comparables to his playing style—New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat as well as Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound forward can play at both center and on the wing. O’Reilly will play a third straight season for the London Knights in 2025-26 after helping the team reach back-to-back Memorial Cup title games.
O’Reilly scored 20 goals and added 36 assists for 56 points in his first season in London before upping his totals to 28 goals and 43 assists for 71 points in 62 regular season Ontario Hockey League (OHL) games in 2024-25. His plus-56 rating last season was third-best in the OHL.
His offensive jump last season was the result of added comfort and a quality team, according to the player.
“The year before last year was my first in the league, so it was just getting that experience and learning how it works and keep improving my game in the little areas, especially offensively, this year I found. But I kind of just stuck to the same way and didn’t try to change my game up too much, and my teammates helped me a lot as well.”
After scoring 22 points during the 2025 OHL playoffs to win the league title, O’Reilly then scored two goals and five points in five games last spring to help the Knights win the 2025 Memorial Cup. He recorded the primary assist on the game-winning goal in the Memorial Cup championship game over the Medicine Hat Tigers.
“It was the time of our lives,” he said of the playoff run. “We had a great time out there, and to win it this year to cap it off was special. We had a heck of a group of guys in our room, and our coaches were amazing as they always have been for us. We had a lot of resilience on our team, and we were built all around. It wasn't just certain guys that did that. Everybody played their role, and we bought into it.”
O’Reilly, who wears number 23 for the Knights, said his power skating has improved greatly since being drafted a year ago. He plans to keep improving his skating, but he also carries confidence in his abilities.
With a new NHL organization supporting him, O’Reilly’s focus remains the same—keep developing and try to win another championship. To do that, he plans to stick to his game, one he believes is centered on being “reliable” to those around him.
“Try not to change my game too much and obviously just do anything to help my team win games and hopefully go on another run,” he said. “But just keep being a reliable player, working on the little things such as faceoffs and little plays in my own zone, and let my offense take over and then hopefully put up some numbers. But my main focus is winning, so I'm hoping for a good year.”
