Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas was lurking in the shadows, and when he was ready, he struck.
We have acquired Ryan O’Reilly & Noel Acciari in a three-team trade with St. Louis & Minnesota.
STL receives Mikhail Abramov & Adam Gaudette, TOR’s 1st round pick in ’23, OTT’s 3rd round pick in ’23 & TOR’s 2nd round pick in ’24. MIN receives TOR’s 4th round pick in ’25. pic.twitter.com/QAOUZvUZfH— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 18, 2023
Toronto has traded Mikhail Abramov, Adam Gaudette, a first and third round pick in 2023, and a second-round pick in 2024 in exchange for Ryan O’Reilly (at 50% retained) and Noel Acciari.
The Maple Leafs have also traded their fourth-round pick in 2025 in Minnesota to retain another 25% of O’Reilly’s salary. Toronto also received prospect Josh Pillar in the deal with the Wild.
When Dubas addressed the media at the midway point of the season, he didn’t reveal much about what the team might do ahead of the trade deadline. He discussed that they’d want to add a forward or a defenceman, but wasn’t sure if he wanted to go the rental route.
And well, now we know that he did just that in acquiring O’Reilly and Acciari, who are both UFAs at the end of this season.
O’Reilly is the player who’ll fit right into Toronto’s top-six along the left wing. The 32-year-old just returned from being out a month in a half with a broken foot. In the three games he’s played since being back, O’Reilly had two goals and one assist.
Over the course of this season, the 32-year-old left-shot forward has 12 goals and seven assists in 40 games.
This is a huge acquisition for Toronto, and with the Stanley Cup experience that O’Reilly has, this will definitely help them against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.
Don’t forget that O’Reilly is an Ontario native, which I’m sure will fuel the fire in him to come out strong with his new team.
His new cap hit with Toronto after all of the retention? $1.876 million.
Acciari, with St. Louis, was centring their third line and could do the same when he arrives in Toronto. Acquiring the 31-year-old, who has 18 points in 54 games this season, and a cap hit of $1.25 million, could shift David Kampf down to a fourth-line role to solidify their centre depth.
The Maple Leafs did all of this without giving up their most coveted asset, Matthew Knies, in the process. Although Toronto is giving up multiple draft picks, they’re doing so in a way where success in the playoffs is very possible.
With all of that being said, Toronto might not be done there. It’s always possible that Dubas wants to add another defenceman, and if that’s the case, we could see another trade on the horizon.
And it could be a roster player for roster player type of deal. It’s going to be a fascinating next few weeks.
