The Montreal Canadiens have signed 27-year-old defenceman Reilly Walsh to a one-year, two-way contract.
Walsh is another right-shot defenceman, continuing the trend this off-season of the Canadiens adding players at that position. He joins free agent Ethan Samson and draft picks Timofei Runtso and Cooper Cleaves as new entries to the depth chart in the past few weeks. Walsh’s addition gives Montreal an option at seventh defenceman, and could prevent them from getting forced into a recall of developing prospects David Reinbacher or Bryce Pickford if the Habs need a call-up during the season.
Walsh played the 2025-26 season in the KHL with Barys Astana and was set to return for a second year, but terminated that contract to sign this NHL deal.
He has previous NHL experience: one game in 2021-22 with the team that drafted him, the New Jersey Devils. The first five years of his professional career were otherwise spent in the AHL, most recently with the Ontario Reign two seasons ago.
Last year, he produced 46 points, a pro-career high and tied for the team lead in Astana, scoring 16 goals. He was also tied with a team-worst -24 goal differential, and has been no stranger to a double-digit negative plus-minus in his career, either last or second from the bottom on his team’s list the past three seasons. He is very much an offensive defenceman, and will mostly play offensive-zone shifts and power-play situations.
