The Edmonton Oilers selected Sam O’Reilly with the final pick of the first round at the 2024 NHL Draft after making a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers at Sphere in Las Vegas on Friday (June 28).
Edmonton sent a conditional first-round selection in the 2025 to 2026 NHL Draft to the Flyers in exchange for the No. 32 pick this year, which the Oilers then used to select the forward from the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
Related: Edmonton Oilers Select Sam O’Reilly 32nd Overall
The 18-year-old O’Reilly had 20 goals and 36 assists in 68 games with the Knights during the 2023-24 OHL season. He added five goals and seven assists in the OHL playoffs, helping London capture the J. Ross Robertson Cup and advance to the Memorial Cup.
O’Reilly stands 6-foot-1, tips the scales at 180 pounds, and hails from Toronto. Here are five other things to know about Edmonton’s new addition.
O’Reilly Got Started in Junior B
Before spending all of 2023-24 in the OHL, O’Reilly spent most of the previous season playing for the London Nationals of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL), racking up 26 goals and 37 assists in 35 games. O’Reilly also appeared in five games with the Knights in 2022-23.
The GOJHL is considered Junior B but has proven to be a source of NHL talent in recent years. He’s the fourth member of the Knights to be drafted in the first round of the NHL Draft since 2021 after spending their 16-year-old season in the GOJHL, joining Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan, and Logan Mailloux.
“Those guys helped me out a lot last year, getting to see how they did it and approached it,” O’Reilly told Gameday London. “Them being able to show me the ropes of how it goes, and to be patient, work hard, and have fun while you’re at it.”
Mailloux, who was picked 31st overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2021 and made his NHL debut with the Habs in April, lived with O’Reilly in London during the 2023-23 season, when the former was still playing for the Knights, and the latter was with the Nationals.
He’s From Edmonton’s Top Draft Source
O’Reilly is the record 12th Knights player to be drafted by the Oilers since they joined the NHL in 1979. The greatest number of Edmonton draft picks from any other amateur club is the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL), with eight.
Edmonton drafted 11 London skaters previously, including two 2023-24 Oilers members, record-breaking blueliner Evan Bouchard and veteran forward Sam Gagner.
Other notable ex-Knights to suit up for Edmonton’s NHL team include defenceman Steve Smith, who won three Stanley Cups (1987, 1988, 1990) and played in one All-Star Game (1991) as a member of the Oilers.
O’Reilly Played Defence First
O’Reilly was a defenceman until three years ago when he switched to forward while playing in the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL).
Growing up playing on the blueline appears to have served O’Reilly well, as he has earned praise for his defensive ability. In THW’s 2024 NHL Draft Prospect Profile of O’Reilly, Peter Baracchini wrote:
“Defensively, O’Reilly’s motor and intensity are just as strong, doing a great job to pressure puck carriers and take opportunities away. He’s got great awareness to corner players, neutralize, and pick off plays from unfolding. His long reach and size can quickly take away time and space for opposing players.”
He Takes After Edmonton’s Enemies
It’s often said that the opposing players you most despise are also the ones you would want on your team. If that’s the case, Oilers fans will love O’Reilly because he patterns his game after two of Edmonton’s biggest enemies, Nazem Kadri and Matthew Tkachuk.
He admires how Kadri and Tkachuk get under the skin of their opponents, which has included many an Oiler over the years: “I like to work below the hash marks and work around the net in the gritty areas,” O’Reilly told DK Pittsburgh Sports.
Kadri was a key part of the Colorado Avalanche team that eliminated the Oilers from the playoffs en route to winning the Stanley Cup in 2022. The six-time 20-goal scorer has continued to be a thorn in Edmonton’s side the last two years as a member of the arch-rival Calgary Flames.
Tkachuk is one of the stars of the Florida Panthers, who just broke Edmonton’s heart by beating the Oilers in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. Before joining the Panthers, the two-time Second Team NHL All-Star spent six years drawing Edmonton’s ire as a member of the Flames.
When the Knights selected him 37th overall in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection, the then-16-year-old O’Reilly said he wanted to “play like Tom Wilson.”
Wilson, a one-time Stanley Cup champion with the Washington Capitals, hasn’t played the Oilers enough over the years to become a public enemy in Edmonton but shares many of the annoying characteristics of Kadri and Tkachuk that make those two such a pain in the backside to play against.
O’Reilly’s a Big Deal in a Small Town
While O’Reilly hails from Toronto, he’s quite the celebrity in Cochrane. But fear not Oilers fans; it’s not the Cochrane you’re thinking of – that being the town just outside of Calgary where Flames flags fly high.
The Cochrane in question here is the town of just over 5,000 residents. It is located in Northeastern Ontario and is the birthplace of Tim Horton (the city is home to the Tim Horton Events Centre and Tim Horton Museum).
O’Reilly’s parents are from Cochrane, and he spends parts of his summer in the small town where he has family and close friends. Over 30 people from the town were planning to travel to Sin City to be there at Sphere when O’Reilly’s name got called.
The 2024 NHL Draft continues in Las Vegas today (June 29), with Rounds 2-7 at Sphere. Edmonton is currently slated to pick at No.’s 64, 160, 183, 192, 196 and 218.
