Tough times in Iowa hone NHL game for Wild's Mike Reilly

There was a point earlier this Iowa Wild season where every time Mike Reilly dipped a toe onto the ice, it felt as if he was being scored upon.

If the plus-minus category on the American Hockey League statistics page was a golf tournament, Reilly was running away from the field. Unfortunately for Reilly, it's not, and that increasing minus — one that hit minus-29 at one point and still stands at a league-worst minus-25 — started to shatter his confidence.

"I'd get out there at the end of a 5-3 game and suddenly there'd be an empty-netter and I'd be like, 'Come on,' " said Reilly, who has played 19 games for the Wild. "It definitely was frustrating and starting to eat at me. A lot of it was on me, but there were a lot of tough breaks, too, and I couldn't really control it."

In early December, the Wild called Reilly up for a week. He didn't play. The purpose was to get the 22-year-old out of the toxic situation that was Iowa, at the time the worst team in the AHL (it now has the second-fewest points, but is 15-11-2 since Dec. 26) and coming off a winless November. He worked with assistant coach Rick Wilson and watched games from the press box with assistant coach Darryl Sydor.

Reilly returned to Des Moines with a clearer head, and his game gradually improved to the point where one day he walked up to then-Iowa head coach John Torchetti, now the Wild's interim coach.

"He goes, 'Geez, I'm really starting to get this,' and I said, 'Isn't it fun?' " Torchetti said.

Coming from the bigger ice sheet at Mariucci Arena, the former Gophers defenseman had a big adjustment his first couple of months of pro hockey, Torchetti said. The 2015 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Hobey Baker Award finalist, Reilly is known as an offensive dynamo.

"He had the green light to just go in college, and he was used to playing wide," Torchetti said. "We're cutting the ice in half, boxing out and there's just more tangibles where his skill and everything may have gotten him here, but now the other parts of his game needed to be refined like any other young defenseman."

Reilly is blessed with exceptional mobility, offensive instincts, vision and a surprisingly hard shot. He walks the offensive blue line to create shooting and passing lanes like few in Wild history.

But the defensive end is the area in which Reilly continues to strive to get better. He's not without the occasional gaffe, his first glaring one coming in Sunday's loss to St. Louis when he put the puck right on Jori Lehtera stick before the Blues' first goal.

"Hey, guys make mistakes all the time," Torchetti said. "He's a young guy, he'll bounce back and he'll have a better game next time."

Reilly hasn't been a liability in his own zone in the NHL (one goal, four assists and minus-2) despite learning to fend off more experienced and bigger NHL forwards. His mobility has shown to be an asset if he's moving his feet and using his stick properly in his own end.

"A lot of it is just effort," Reilly said. "Sometimes I may drift a little bit, so what they're trying to get me to do is be more aggressive, use my stick and positioning to take away time and space and use my skating ability. And offensively, if a bad break happens, I can get back quick."

Adjustment time

When Reilly made his NHL debut Jan. 9 in Dallas, his jitters were evident. His second shift, he put the puck right on John Klingberg's stick for a goal that would be overturned after a coach's challenge.

"He was nervous, but you can hardly blame him, and he's been good ever since," goalie Devan Dubnyk said. "The danger with a young guy that is as offensively skilled as he is, there's a feeling like you've got to come in and create incredible things offensively. But I think the most important thing for somebody like that is to come in and learn how to be good defensively and then when those opportunities come, let that side of it take over.

"I've been surprised how there hasn't been much of a growing period for him. I think he's been real good in our end for a young guy."

During Reilly's struggles in Iowa, Torchetti never scratched him: "I'd be shot," Torchetti quipped, referring to the fact General Manager Chuck Fletcher assigned Torchetti the task of developing Reilly, not sitting him.

But Torchetti did decrease his ice time and dropped him down to give him more ideal matchups and build his confidence.

"It's nice to be a plus player for a night or two," Torchetti said. "He was getting caught up in between and then get a minus. It was a struggle. He had to adapt. His offense was good, but now let's [make] your defense good.

"It's an adjustment when you're always thinking. When you're thinking all the time, you're being robotic on the ice. Now, you see, it's more fluid. He understands the system. It just makes it a whole lot easier when you don't have to think."

Home cooking

Reilly, two classes from getting his economics degree, has been living in St. Paul since being recalled Feb. 8. He's starting to feel as if he belongs, on and off the ice, and hopes this means he'll be sticking around the rest of the season.

He still goes to Dinkytown often to hang out with his brothers, Connor and Ryan, who play for the Gophers. He has gotten to see his sister, Caitlin, play for the Gophers women's team. Growing up in Chanhassen, he even goes out to the western suburbs every once in a while for a home-cooked meal.

"It's still a little surreal, when I'm on campus and you're close to the U and the rink and the classrooms, that I'm in the NHL a year later," Reilly said. "It's slowly settling in. This is the longest stretch I've been up and my game's feeling better and I'm more comfortable around the guys.

"I'm taking something out of each game, and Torch never goes a long time without talking to me: 'You can do this, don't do this, keep it going, keep it going.' Whether it's during the game or after, he's very vocal. I feel like it's finally clicking. And I know if I start to let up, Torch will let me know."