Confirmed with Link: Leafs have acquired Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari & Josh Pillar in a three-team trade with STL and MIN

[Stephen]

Acciari seems like an easy extension for Treliving.

ROR also seems like the type of player in Calgary he'd target - so I'd expect the Leafs to make a pitch for him too unless they prefer to save some extra space for a guy like Bertuzzi

There's an argument to be made to go a little younger and more spry but a guy like ROR is definitely welcome back.

 

[mikeyz]

I thought he was going to be out the door but it sounds like he loved being a Leaf and will continue to love being a Leaf. And I love that!

I really hope they can resign him

 

[Bellefour20]

I really hope they can resign him

He's at the top of my list for a new jersey (not Fanatics) if he stays.

 

[Mess]

I really hope they can resign him

Always been a big ROR fan and happy he was brought in, there was a lot of salary cap gymnastics required to make that happen and picks and prospects sent out the door to buy Salary retention to make his former contract fit.

Reminder:

75% of ROR remaining balance at the TDL with 3/4 already expired season games passed. The hit the Leafs were able to take was very minimal of just $1.875M of $7.5 mil.

According to CapFriendly.com, O'Reilly's $7.5-million cap hit for the remainder of the season will be divided as follows. He will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

• St. Louis retains 50% ($3.75M)
• Minnesota retains 50% of the $3.75M ($1.875M)
• O'Reilly joins Maple Leafs with a cap hit of $1.875M

This is due to the cost of having 4 forwards consume over 1/2 the salary cap by themselves so there is very little room for everyone else and Leafs very much live in a a have and have-not society, where they can't afford many middle level contracts under the Cap.

So as much as I would love to have him back, something drastic would have to happen the current players under contract now to change the landscape to realistically be able to re-sign him, unless he is going to offer the Leafs a sweatheart hometown discount down from the $7.5 mil he was making. IMO

PS. That doesn't even factor in future spending increases for Matthews, Marner and Nylander coming up.

 

[Brown Dog]

Doesn’t sound like a guy who’s rushing out the door to me. Hopefully matthews contract is realistic and they can resign him.

Wouldn't mind him back on a 1-yr deal for a hometown discount, but by all accounts that's not his style.

He likely has one more decent payday coming and will want some sort of term, two things we can't really (and shouldn't) give him.

 

[bax]

Wouldn't mind him back on a 1-yr deal for a hometown discount, but by all accounts that's not his style.

He likely has one more decent payday coming and will want some sort of term, two things we can't really (and shouldn't) give him.

That’s a fair point for sure. I’d be ok with 2 or 3 years but he is definitely has some mileage so it might not end well if the cost is too high. Sure does sound like he wants to stay.

 

[jaric1862]

Don't want him back, he's 32 and his game is bound for a steep decline

 

[TorMapleJays]

We need to resign the FACTOR.

Him and Knies were a force in the playoffs together. We need more of them not less.

He is the player you want to rub off on the team, not Marleau and Thorton.

3 years.

 

[Mess]

If neither Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari return the Leafs have surrendered 4 future draft picks = 1st (2023), 2nd (2024), 3rd (2023) and 4th in (2025) for 5 playoff wins and a massive mortgaging of their future for rental players.

 

[Sypher04]

Don't want him back, he's 32 and his game is bound for a steep decline

I’d take him back, but the price and the term have to be reasonable to where he’s at in his career. ROR has generally be a tough signing in his career.

 

[Amadeus]

Extremely smart player. I saw that clearly but he's slower than Tavares and that's saying something.

I'd much rather invest in Barbashev long term than ROR right now.

 

[smitty10]

If neither Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari return the Leafs have surrendered 4 future draft picks = 1st (2023), 2nd (2024), 3rd (2023) and 4th in (2025) for 5 playoff wins and a massive mortgaging of their future for rental players.

Hindsight is 20/20. Only 1 team wins the Cup. Do you suggest no team attempt to better themselves to increase their odds? This is what good teams do.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

If neither Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari return the Leafs have surrendered 4 future draft picks = 1st (2023), 2nd (2024), 3rd (2023) and 4th in (2025) for 5 playoff wins and a massive mortgaging of their future for rental players.

It is and it really puts Dubas in a negative light. He mortgaged the future the entire time he was GM.


Do you think ROR will play C with Tavares on the wing? That line will no doubt be skilled, but it will lack speed. I don't think adding Marner or Nylander helps in the speed department.

Don't get me wrong. I like Acciari and ROR.

 

[Deebo]

Hindsight is 20/20. Only 1 team wins the Cup. Do you suggest no team attempt to better themselves to increase their odds? This is what good teams do.

I'm sure he was fine when 2nd round picks were going out the door for 4th line rentals in Boyle and Plekanec, in the first 2 years of a rebuild or a 1st rounder for a goalie that won 0 playoff series before Marner and Matthews even played a game.

 

[ACC1224]

Hindsight is 20/20. Only 1 team wins the Cup. Do you suggest no team attempt to better themselves to increase their odds? This is what good teams do.

Didn't work out but IMO, these were necessary moves and seemed to be a reasonable price.
Making no moves and losing is is worse, IMO.

 

[Warden of the North]

I love what ROR brought to this team, but there's just no way he lives up to his next contract unless he gives the team an insane deal.

 

[andora]

Slow smart intense players are good.. its the smart that lengthens his career and is valuable

oreilly brings so much you sign him if you can

 

[Suntouchable13]

Slow smart intense players are good.. its the smart that lengthens his career and is valuable

oreilly brings so much you sign him if you can

We should have surrounded our core with guys like ROR, not Thornton or Marleau. I wonder if we had a ROR type around earlier, the core would have turned out to be different players.

 

[andora]

We should have surrounded our core with guys like ROR, not Thornton or Marleau. I wonder if we had a ROR type around earlier, the core would have turned out to be different players.

Oh definitely.. i lokk back at our transaction history with such frustration

 

[Mess]

Hindsight is 20/20. Only 1 team wins the Cup. Do you suggest no team attempt to better themselves to increase their odds? This is what good teams do.

There is coming a time when the Leafs are really going to feel the pain of so much draft capital spent on what resulted in failure. Leafs only have 5 picks of possible 12 over the next 3 future drafts in the top 120 picks of a draft surviving today. Trades like this one are short-term gain for long-term pain.

There might be a reason to gamble but that doesn't mean there are not consequences to those actions. Ask just about anyone that goes to Las Vegas.

Leafs are doing the opposite of doubling and tripling down on a flawed strategy beliving you can win with 4 forwards eating up 1/2 your salary cap. which in Vegas they call that tossing good money down after bad. (to waste money by spending more money on something you have already spent money on that is no good: Trying to fix that old car would just be throwing good money after bad.)

Sadly when a team like Toronto has among the highest AAV contracts in the NHL 3 X $11 mil players the offset to that is strong drafting and developing because you need cheap ELC contracts to offset your high priced ones. Leafs should be fueling their success with HIGH draft picks not using those picks as currency to fuel further failure .. That is my position on this and I'm talking foresight not hindsight required to make the team better.

In the 23 years of a NHL salary Cap the Leafs have won only 1 single playoff round the worst record in the NHL..

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

If neither Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari return the Leafs have surrendered 4 future draft picks = 1st (2023), 2nd (2024), 3rd (2023) and 4th in (2025) for 5 playoff wins and a massive mortgaging of their future for rental players.

The 1st is mitigated because they recouped that.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are easy to acquire especially the 3rd and 4th.

Hell the 4th is 3 drafts away it's irrelevant.

It was a cheap price

 

[andora]

The 1st is mitigated because they recouped that.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are easy to acquire especially the 3rd and 4th.

Hell the 4th is 3 drafts away it's irrelevant.

It was a cheap price

Just curious why and how to easily get picks back?

 

[3blizzard4]

Before Dubas was fired: RoR and his family were thanking Toronto and on their way out.

Tre hired: Lets work something out here.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Is hockey a strong link game, or a weak link game?

Do teams win off the backs of their star players or from strength of depth?

I've always felt hockey was a strong link game. That star power drove results. So when Dubas traded for all those depth guys at deadline again this year I was incensed.

Turns out I may have been wrong.

The so-called leadership on this team played far below their pay grade in the Florida series. It's a sad state of affairs when the duds Dubas brought in were the ones doing all the scoring. I take back everything I ever said about them.

They're the real stars.

The four slugs slurping back half the cap are just out to get theirs. All this talk of learning experiences. I'm sorry, but the learning experiences should have been finished years ago.

Not one of them has learned a damn thing about winning yet.

I really hope Tanenbaum has a good hard look in the mirror and asks himself if he likes what he sees. The fans see him as nothing but a hypocrite. Flattery and empty promises about giving the "greatest fan base in the world ... a team they can be proud of".

He's either a failure or a liar.

It's one or the other. There is no other choice. I'll let you decide for yourself which.

Either way he's still a loser.

So is his hockey team.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Just curious why and how to easily get picks back?

2nds might be slightly tougher but rounds 3-7 are thrown away like candy.