Oilers prospect O'Reilly looks to lead London back to Memorial Cup

Sam O’Reilly and the London Knights are a team on a mission as they go through the 2025 Ontario Hockey League playoffs. 

Last season, the Knights easily blitzed through the OHL’s postseason to win the J. Ross Robertson Cup, only losing two games to the Saginaw Spirit in the process. 

The round-robin portion of the Memorial Cup tournament was no different, as they represented the OHL by going a perfect 3-0 to advance straight to the championship game.

They ran into a familiar foe in the Spirit in the Memorial Cup Final, who were hosts of the tournament. Saginaw got the jump on London, taking an early 3-0 lead, which put the Knights’ backs against the wall for the first time that postseason.

London did everything they could to get back into the game, eventually tying the contest halfway through the third period. 

But fate was not with the Knights that day as Vancouver Canucks prospect Josh Bloom scored with 22 seconds remaining in the third period to hand the Spirit their first Memorial Cup championship in team history.

“We took it really badly last year and we all still feel the same way about it,” O’Reilly said in an interview with TSN earlier this season. “So just having that mindset in the playoffs this year and the success we had in the regular season will help a lot in our future."

O’Reilly was a key piece to London’s puzzle last season, playing consistently on a line with Toronto Maple Leafs prospect and OHL most valuable player Easton Cowan and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Max McCue.

The 6-foot-1 centre finished his first full season in the OHL with 20 goals and 56 points in 68 games. He added five goals and 12 points in 16 playoff games to help London get to the Memorial Cup. 

O’Reilly’s play was impressive enough that the Edmonton Oilers made a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers to move up in the 2024 draft and snag him with the 32nd-overall pick.

“Hearing my name late at the end of the first round, especially to a Canadian team was pretty special,” said O’Reilly. 

He attended his first NHL training camp last fall, using the experience to watch how the professionals conduct themselves on and off the ice in order to come back stronger for the 2024-25 campaign and put together a winning mindset for the season. 

The Toronto native had plenty of veteran help while he was there, but he specially mentioned the London connection being strong with former Knights forward Corey Perry and defenceman Evan Bouchard. 

“It was a change of environment, and I had a bunch of people to look up to over there,” said O’Reilly. “I got a chance to watch to see how they work and act as pros every day. They’re at the best level and the compete that they showed was good to see, especially coming back to London and to try to bring that back with me.”

Like many hockey fans, O’Reilly’s eyes were drawn to Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, who was coming off a postseason that saw him win the Conn Smythe Trophy. He took the time to watch how McDavid processes the game and the work that he puts in on and off the ice. 

“You see him on TV with all the highlights and all that, but I could see him make adjustments on the ice,” said O’Reilly. “You can see all the skill, all the hard work, and all the hours he puts into his game, on and off the ice, and before and after practice. 

“It takes a lot to get where [those types] of players are and to go out there and play with those guys, you get a little extra motivation to work as hard as you can to get like that one day.”

O’Reilly ended up appearing in four preseason games with the Oilers, recording a goal before he was returned back to the Knights. 

He rejoined a London team primed to defend their title and get back to the Memorial Cup, with 13 members of last year’s team returning for 2024-25, including core guys like O’Reilly, Cowan, Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey, and Sam Dickinson.

The Knights finished with the best regular-season record for the second straight year going 55-11-2, finishing 12 points ahead of the Kitchener Rangers.  They have also maintained their playoff dominance so far, sweeping away both the Owen Sound Attack and Erie Otters in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

O’Reilly continued his upwards development during this time, recording 28 goals and 71 points in 62 games during the regular season. He has five goals and 15 points through the first two rounds of the playoffs. 

While focusing on getting stronger and faster, the Oilers’ message to him for this season was to just put himself in situations where he could succeed.

“The main thing they wanted was to stick to myself and to be the player that I am,” said O’Reilly. “They wanted me to stick to the habits that I try to focus on, but obviously I try to keep getting stronger, faster and more mature.” 

London will take on the Kitchener in the OHL Western Conference Championship Series, after the Rangers rallied all the way back from a 3-0 series deficit to defeat the Windsor Spitfires in seven games. 

Ottawa Senators draft pick Luke Ellinas was huge in that series, recording six goals and nine points, including the Game 7 overtime winner. The 6-foot-1 centre recorded 20 goals and 37 points in 50 games this season and added six goals and 13 points in 10 playoff games. 

O’Reilly believes whether they win or lose in the coming series will come down to his team’s performance, and not the opposition. 

“Everyone here knows what we have to do, and we have the team for it,” said O’Reilly. “It’s going to come down to us, we have to come out and perform. 

“We have to go out every day and get better, making each other better and pushing ourselves. If we do that, I think we’ll be back this year.”