Well, he's got top 4 skills, but had Suter and Brodin ahead of him. Olofsson, and recently Seeler, were the two other LHD (that play a more conservative style) that he was fighting for TOI with. Seeler is a big, tough guy, and Olofsson also would be a top 4 on some teams, I think. Every time Reilly got on the ice I think he tried to do too much, which in his case meant he tried to make things happen offensively, resulting in some bad mistakes. On a team like MN, which already has Suter, Spurgeon, and Dumba( all will score at least 40 points, and Suter 50)providing plenty of offense, we needed a solid defensive guy more than anything else, and we were out of options with Reilly, so he couldn't be sent down, w/o running the risk of losing him for nothing.
If he was a RHD we never would've traded him. It still isn't a sure thing that he will be a NHL'er, but as you can see, he has some great skating and puckhandling skills, as well as good offensive vision. He will always be the type to make you pull your hair out with risky plays( a la J C Tremblay)once in a while, but if he can limit those he will be an asset. I sometimes wonder about his defensive hockey IQ, but i have seen him play well there. Maybe if he gets lots of TOI he'll be too tired to make those risky, impulsive plays. Sorta like tiring out a dog by throwing a stick in the water to fetch so he doesn't tear up the furniture at home.
Certainly a steal for a 5th....thought we would get at least a 3rd. I think that a Coyle +(Reilly?) for MaxPac deal was being talked about at the TDL, but MN got cold feet and they decided to do the Reilly deal instead. We simply couldn't carry 3 3rd pairing LHD.