2023 - Toronto acquire Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues
In 2023, general manager Kyle Dubas appeared to be on the hot seat and was pushing in all the chips and his biggest move came when he got creative by first trading for Jake McCabe, and then acquiring Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues. He was able to get the Minnesota Wild involved, which resulted in the Blues retaining 50% of O'Reilly's contract with the Wild retaining 25%.
The cost was Marlies prospect Mikhail Abramov who has since returned to Russia to play in the KHL, Adam Gaudette who is currently having a successful season with the Senators and a sizeable amount of draft picks. The Blues acquired a first, second and third round selections, while the Wild would gain a fourth round pick.
Despite all the previous years additions of fourth liners, not many had impact, however Acciari would become one of the few difference makers from the deadline contributing with four goals in his 23 games and added a pair of goals in the two rounds of playoffs. His physicality was astonishing as he averaged more than seven hits per game in the playoffs.
O'Reilly was the main piece of the trade and despite seeing a drop in ice-time in Toronto he made an impact when he arrived and registered five points, including a hattrick in his first three games. Unfortunately, he was hit in the hand by an Auston Matthews shot in early March and broke his finger causing him to miss a month.
Once he returned to the line-up, ROR got into five contests before the playoffs and collected six points.
In the playoffs, coach Sheldon Keefe relied heavily on the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner as he finsihed third amongst forwards in ice-time behind Matthews and Mitch Marner; and finished the playoffs with nine points in 11 games.
Many hoped the team could bring him back on a new contract, but O'Reilly decided to head to Nashville for a bigger role, while Acciari would follow Dubas to Pittsburgh in free agency.