The Chicago Blackhawks seem to have some type of hidden talent for convincing free agents to sign with their franchise - that, or the allure of three Stanley Cup Finals appearances and two Cup victories, and potentially a third, in six seasons is pretty alluring to young players looking for an NHL landing spot.
No matter their secret to success, it seems the already rich Blackhawks may be on the verge of landing yet another potential young star in former University of Minnesota defenseman Mike Reilly.
Reilly is heading to the NHL combine in Buffalo on Wednesday and will speak with a number of teams while he's there, according to a report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
"UFA D Mike Reilly will meet with approx 8 teams at combine, agent Pat Brisson confirms. Won't say who, but suspect CHI, LA, MIN among them," Friedman tweeted.
Michael Russo of StarTribune.com expanded on the likely direction of Reilly's future.
"It's believed two of the teams Reilly will meet with this week are the Wild and Chicago Blackhawks," writes Russo. "I have heard in the past the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings are also showing interest in the 2015 Hobey Baker finalist and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The Blue Jackets believe they're still in the mix, too, although it'd be pretty surprising if after all of this Reilly simply circles back and signs with the team he could have signed with the past two offseasons.
"From everybody I have talked to, I believe that as of right now the Blackhawks are the frontrunners."
Reilly was drafted 98th overall in the 2011 NHL Draft by the Blue Jackets, who have a window from now until June 15 to sign Reilly to a two-year, entry-level contract.
Per Russo, the Jackets have given Reilly permission to speak with a "limited number of teams before then," meaning he's unlikely to return to Columbus.
In 2011-12, Reilly helped his BCHL team with 24 goals, 59 assists and won the BCHL Interior Conference Best Defenseman Award.
In three seasons at Minnesota, Reilly amassed 18 goals and 89 points in 117 games.
While the Blackhawks are facing a difficult cap situation this offseason, which will likely entail a handful of extremely difficult roster decisions for GM Stan Bowman, and a bounty of strong defenseman, Chicago may actually have a good pitch to land Reilly.
"The Blackhawks could be selling to the left-shot, mobile Reilly that he's the eventual Nick Leddy replacement," writes Russo. "They dealt Leddy to the Islanders before this past season in a salary-cap move, and the Blackhawks will once again be in a severe cap crunch in a couple of weeks."
With limited cap space, Bowman may be forced to entertain a trade for a guy like Johnny Oduya as well, ostensibly opening up another spot for Reilly in the Blackhawks lineup.
Mammoth defenseman Brent Seabrook has been a popular name as a surprise trade candidate for Bowman this offseason as well, but TSN's Darren Dreger laughed off that talk last week.
