Tampa Bay Lightning prospect, Sam O’Reilly, is the 18th skater to win the OHL player of the year (Red Tilson Award) since 2005 — the start of the NHL’s salary cap era.

The list of award winners includes stars like Tyler Seguin, Vincent Trochek, Connor McDavid, Mitch Marner, Wyatt Johnston (& plenty more).

Most impressive, though, is of the 17 skaters to win before O’Reilly, only ONE has failed to reach the NHL. And the 16 skaters that have reached the NHL have all played 230+ games while averaging at least 0.43 points/game.

I’ll include the list in this thread, but the point is history shows Sam O’Reilly will very likely be a stud in the NHL.

He’s a right-handed defensive centerman with plenty of offensive upside — EXACTLY what the Lightning need.

Perhaps we have another John Tavares in the making?!