On the eve of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 2026 preseason opener, young forward Sam O’Reilly found himself positioned among NHL talent.
O’Reilly on Saturday practiced on a line with Gage Goncalves and Conor Geekie, one day before the Lightning host the Nashville Predators at 5 p.m. in preseason action. He also practiced on the penalty kill alongside Jeffrey Viel.
“I’ve watched them for a long time now, and it’s really good to get on the ice with them,” O’Reilly said of skating with Tampa Bay’s NHL veterans. “It’s a lot of fun out there. I’ll just keep working hard and taking in all the details.”
The 20-year-old O’Reilly enters his first season of professional hockey in 2026-27 and is gunning for an NHL roster spot ahead of the regular season opener on Oct. 1 at Madison Square Garden.
Saturday marked his first appearance on a line with NHL players this camp. He was the only skater in Group A that hasn’t appeared in an NHL game.
O’Reilly has been watching the usual Lightning cast closely, hoping to copy the finer details of the game. He hasn’t been afraid to ask questions when he has them.
“He has really good puck skills, can shoot it well and it looks like he’s a smart player,” Lightning forward Brayden Point said of O’Reilly. “He really sees things well out there, so it’s exciting to have him and I think he’s done great so far.”
Adjusting to professional hockey is mostly about speed, but Point doesn’t think that will take O’Reilly very long.
“It’s just the speed, the quickness at which things happen,” Point said. “Obviously it's a different game than junior, but for a guy with his smarts it comes quick, so it's been exciting to watch him.”
O’Reilly just wrapped up a decorated junior hockey career and is fresh off back-to-back Memorial Cup championships.
He was voted the OHL’s most outstanding player in 2025-26 before being named MVP of both the OHL playoffs and Memorial Cup.
The Lightning roster for Sunday’s game have not been released, but it could mark another chance for O’Reilly to make an impression.
“We obviously see what he did in junior. We saw a little bit of him last year at camp. We like his brain. He's smart enough to get to places early so he can read plays and understand where it's going. He kind of has a feel for where the puck's going, so it's a sign of a good penalty killer,” assistant coach Rob Zettler said.
“But at the end of the day, we'll see when the real bullets start flying. He's a great player who won all those awards in junior, and now it’s the NHL versus the big boys. Let’s see what you’ve got, and he'll get a chance to show it over these next few games.”
