The Toronto Maple Leafs made the teams' biggest deadline acquisition in twenty years. Acquiring Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues for forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette along with a 2023 first-round draft pick, Ottawa's 2023 third-round selection and the Leaf's' 2024 second-round choice to St. Louis as well as a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Minnesota Wild for retaining a percentage of O'Reilly's cap hit.
It's a steep price to pay for a proven winner in O'Reilly. Critics will talk about his down season and rightfully so. 12 goals, 20 points in 41 games and an ugly -24. I believe this trade will ignite the Ontario kid. His parents are from Toronto and he has plenty of family in the area.
As a Maple Leaf fan this deal is very exciting to see. It gives head coach Sheldon Keefe many options to mix and match upfront like he tends to do frequently. On Saturday night you saw this with the O'Reilly, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner combo. O'Reilly took most of the draws for the line going 12 for 14 on the night.
