Christmas in July: O'Reilly has lots of reasons to smile at Smilezone event

Ryan O'Reilly is often missing a front tooth when he does interviews during the hockey season, but his incisors were all accounted for on Monday when the Nashville Predators centre served as the face of the 10th annual Smilezone Celebrity Golf Tournament. 

"I just thought, being the ambassador, I'd try to look like my best self," O'Reilly said, while quickly demonstrating how the fake tooth can pop in and out of his mouth.

Co-founded by former New York Rangers winger Adam Graves, the Smilezone Foundation raises money to transform existing waiting rooms, treatment rooms or patient care rooms into bright, comforting and engaging spaces for children and their families. There are more than 380 Smilezones across Canada. 

In many ways, O'Reilly is the perfect spokesperson for this year's event. The 33-year-old from Clinton, Ont. has been grinning ear-to-ear ever since the Predators signed prized free agents Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei earlier this month. 

"July 1st, for myself, it was Christmas," O'Reilly said. "Talking with the other guys it was like, 'Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!' guy after guy."

While the Predators celebrated the Stamkos signing, the news was tough to swallow for Tampa Bay Lightning players. Stamkos, who was drafted first overall by the franchise in 2008, had served as captain since 2014. 

"It sucks, obviously," said Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli, who was among the 340 participants at Lionhead Golf Club in Brampton, Ont. on Monday. "He's a really good buddy of mine. He's been in Tampa his whole [hockey] life. It sucks to see him go but, at the end of the day, hockey is a business and he had to do what was best for him, and the organization had to do what's best for them."

Stamkos helped Tampa Bay win a pair of championships, but the team bowed out in the first round of the playoffs in the last two springs. Cirelli believes the Lightning, who re-acquired defenceman Ryan McDonagh from the Predators before signing forward Jake Guentzel in free agency, are positioned to take another run at the Stanley Cup despite losing Stamkos. 

The oddsmakers, though, like the Predators more. Tampa Bay (+2000) is tied for the 11th shortest odds to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel while Nashville (+1600) is ninth. 

After making the playoffs as a wild-card team last season and falling in six games to the Vancouver Canucks in the first round, O'Reilly and the Predators are setting their sights much higher. 

"We have a window in Nashville," O'Reilly declared. "With [Filip] Forsberg and [Roman] Josi and [Juuse] Saros ... in their prime, we have an opportunity to compete for a Cup."

But it won't be easy to dethrone the defending Western Conference champions, the Edmonton Oilers, who have brought back most of their team while adding wingers Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner in free agency. Hopes remain sky high in the Alberta capital. 

"It starts right at the top with Connor [McDavid] and Leon [Draisaitl] and the way they embrace the city and the fans embrace them," said winger Corey Perry, who re-upped for another year in Edmonton. "[We want] to build on what we accomplished [this past season]. It's not the ultimate goal, but we can be pretty proud of what we did, down 3-0 in the finals and really turning it around [to force Game 7]."

The Oilers will look to follow the lead of the Florida Panthers by winning it all one year after making it to the final. And FanDuel likes their chances. Edmonton (+850) is the current Cup favourite, just ahead of the Panthers (+950). 

"You're one shot away and that will be in our minds for the season," Perry promised. "We can use that as motivation."

Perry admits the Game 7 loss in Florida is "still fresh" in his mind. 

"You wake up and you think you still have to go back to the rink," the 39-year-old said.

In fact, Monday marked Perry's first round of golf since the playoff run ended in heartbreak. 

"I don't play in too many of these anymore," he said. "When you get the call to come to something like this, you jump at it. It's for a good cause."

The Smilezone Foundation expects to raise $250,000 this year. 

"I had the opportunity to go into hospitals and see kids and you realize what a smile could mean," said Graves. "Our plan was to move across Canada and hit all the small centres, the centres that maybe don't necessarily have the means to do it. It's a pretty simple concept ... the power of smile is so important."