For players who were rookies in the AHL last year, this season really is their first real, full, AHL season.

With no NHL taxi squads to deplete AHL rosters, the AHL is much more competitive this season. Unlike last season, teams are now playing outside of their division and going on real road trips. There will once again be a postseason for teams to compete for the Calder Cup.

So while players like Penguins right-handed defense prospect Will Reilly did make their AHL debuts last season, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach J.D. Forrest says that it’s still as if players like Reilly are “almost a rookie this year.”

With that comes some growing pains, something Reilly is no stranger to this season.

Reilly, the Penguins’ 24-year-old 2017 seventh-round pick, made his professional debut last year and skated in 26 of Wilkes-Barre’s 32 games, spending time on the right side of each of the three defense pairings throughout the season and quarterbacking the second power play unit, a role he had during his time in college at RPI. His three goals were tied for the team-lead among defensemen, and his six points ranked fourth among the team’s defensemen.

With a deeper blue line in Wilkes-Barre this year, Reilly’s been in and out of the lineup, mostly rotating in in a third-pairing role. With the healthy scratches combined with a bout of COVID earlier in the season, Reilly’s appeared in just 28 of Wilkes-Barre’s 62 games.

“From sort of the beginning of the year there to recently, it was pretty tough being in and out,” Reilly told me of his season on Thursday.

Reilly was briefly assigned to Wheeling in late November to get playing time, where was thrust into a big role and scored two goals and four assists in just three games.

“He came down, is playing penalty kill, power play and maybe not the same minutes he’s playing at Wilkes Barre, but it’s important for his development,” Nailers head coach Derek Army told me at the time. “(Pittsburgh) wants to see him grow and develop as a player. It’s very important for him.”

While that stint in the ECHL was helpful for Reilly’s development and confidence this season, he said it was “tough” for him to be sent down.

“Going down there, I think something I wasn’t really expecting coming into the season,” he said. “But I tried to just tell myself that I’ve got to be where my feet are. I went down there and tried to have a positive attitude. I just worked as hard as I could every day to try and get back here.”

With Reilly now back in Wilkes-Barre, he’s still not quite a lock to be in the lineup every single night. But he’s been playing more regularly lately, and the Penguins do like the tools he brings when he is in the lineup.

“He’s a good skater,” Forrest told me of Reilly earlier in the season. “His shot is pretty dangerous. He’s a heavy guy to play against.”

Reilly’s taken on more of a defensive role this season, and entered Thursday’s game with just three assists in the AHL this year. He netted his first goal of the year in the second period of Wilkes-Barre’s 5-1 win over Hartford, a goal that would stand as the eventual game-winner and earn him No. 1 star honors:

“I just saw the open area there backdoor,” Reilly said of that goal. “Drew (O’Connor) had it. He’s a great player, so I knew he’d see me back there, and it’s just a great pass by him. All I had to do was just finish it. It’s just good play by Drew there.”

Forrest said that it was “great to see” Reilly get his first of the year, and said that he feels like there will be “more to follow.”

“He snuck down the side there, a great pass from (O’Connor),” Forrest said. “He was able to bury it. He’s had a few looks like that this year that have just kind of gone off to the side or bobbled at the last second.”

It’s continued growth in other aspects of the game that will help Reilly solidify his spot in the lineup, though.

“That consistency night in and night out is not something that everyone just has,” Forrest said. “He’s been able to find that lately. He’s also helped us on the penalty kill, which is another area we think that we need him to step up in. He’s been doing that lately, he’s been blocking shots and just some nice plays on the PK. So if he continues in those areas, he’s got a chance to be in every night.”

Reilly’s also found a consistent defense partner as of late in Juuso Riikola, and he feels like that pairing has really helped his own game.

“He’s a great player,” Reilly said of Riikola. “He’s an elite skater. He’s an NHL player. For me, I’m just trying to read off him a lot. He helps me a lot on the bench, I think we do a good job of communicating. He’s awesome to play with, a really poised player. I think I feed off well from him.”

Though Reilly’s sophomore season hasn’t always gone as smoothly as he may have hoped for, he said that it does feel like more of a “real season” after the way COVID impacted his rookie year. And he’s looking forward to his first push for the playoffs as a pro.

“Last year was a lot different with no playoffs,” he said. “This year it feels more real. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a real season, real hockey. Hopefully we can just keep pushing and position ourselves well for playoffs.”