Toronto Maple Leafs Trade For Perfect Fit in Ryan O’Reilly

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a blockbuster move on Friday night, acquiring Ryan O’Reilly from the St. Louis Blues.

It was only a matter of time before the Toronto Maple Leafs made a monster trade and it finally happened with the acquisition of Ryan O’Reilly.

Here’s how the trade breaks down:

• Toronto Maple Leafs acquires: Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari and Josh Pillar
• St. Louis Blues acquires: Mikhail Abramov & Adam Gaudette, 2023 1st Round Pick, 2023 3rd Round Pick, 2024 2nd Round Pick  (retains 50% of O’Reilly’s contract)
• Minnesota acquires: 2025 4th Round Pick (retains 25% of O’Reilly’s contract)

Three draft picks and two prospects may seem like a lot, but in reality, it’s not a huge haul when you’re in win-now mode.

The Leafs have been looking for forward depth and they found it in O’Reilly, but also in Acciari, who’s an underrated piece in this trade. Before I speak about O’Reilly, let’s look at Acciari.

He’s clearly the lesser known player in this deal, but he gives the Leafs a lot of options now. With 10 goals and 18 points this year, I’d expect him to fill the void as the fourth-line centre now, but it’s possible that he plays the wing, replacing someone like Joey Anderson.

Toronto Maple Leafs Acquire Ryan O’Reilly

As previously mentioned, acquiring O’Reilly is a huge get for the Leafs and it makes their team even stronger at centre/wing. The former Conn Smythe winner is a seven-time 20-goal scorer, but just as importantly is a very responsible defensive forward.

I’ve mentioned this before in many articles highlighting O’Reilly over the past few weeks, but his ability to stick-check and play defense is arguably the best part of his game. The Leafs are now the best team in the NHL down the middle of the ice and O’Reilly’s playoff experience should help this team out tremendously in the spring.

So, what will a healthy line-up look like now? Here are two options.

No. 1:

• Bunting/Matthews/Nylander
• Kerfoot/Tavares/Marner
• Engvall/O’Reilly/Jarnkrok
• Aston-Reese/Kampf/Acciari

No. 2:

• Bunting/Matthews/Nylander
• O’Reilly/Tavares/Marner
• Kerfoot/Kampf/Jarnkrok
• Aston-Reese/Acciari/Engvall

The Leafs can put O’Reilly in the top-six and play him alongside Tavares and Marner, or they can keep him in his natural position as the third-line centre.

Either way, the team has gotten much better and will be a scary team to face in the playoffs.

This was the kind of move that the team needed, but I don’t think they’re finished. Justin Holl has been a healthy scratch recently, so I feel like the team may want to upgrade their defense and they could surprise people by trading for a veteran goalie.

As for acquiring a player to fill the top-six void, I think the Leafs are going to end up going all-in on Matthew Knies, hoping that he can come in for free during the playoffs and make an impact.

The Leafs deserve a ton of credit for making this move now, instead of waiting until the deadline. This will give O’Reilly and Acciari even longer to get situated with the team and give them an even better chance at being impact players when the playoffs start.