Blues' absurd asking price from the Leafs for Ryan O'Reilly revealed
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Lately, there has been all kinds of speculation that the Leafs may take a run at Blues forward Ryan O'Reilly. O'Reilly is currently on IR after suffering a broken foot last month and is in the final year of his contract that is paying him $7.5M for the season. The 2019 Stanley Cup Champion and Conn Smythe Trophy winner is known for his defensive prowess and his affinity for winning faceoffs, but can certainly contribute offensively as he has registered at least 50 points in every non-shortened season since the 2011-2012 season. Not only that, but O'Reilly is a playoff performer, having registered 56 points over 64 post-season contests.
Adding O'Reilly would give the Leafs remarkable depth down the middle of the ice and provide them with some additional secondary scoring - something they have not received much off the past few playoffs. However, trading for him will be very difficult and not just because of his salary. According to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, the asking price for O'Reilly's services is quite high, and appears to be a price the Leafs may not even entertain.
"When I asked an NHL scout what the Blues might ask for, the response on the condition of anonymity because he's not permitted to discuss other teams' rosters was: 'First-round pick plus Knies or Minten.'"
-Rutherford in his recent article, which discussed the possibility of St. Louis and Toronto linking up on a deadline blockbuster
-Rutherford in his recent article, which discussed the possibility of St. Louis and Toronto linking up on a deadline blockbuster
A few weeks ago, it was reported that the Leafs had deemed Matthew Knies essentially "untouchable". Also, thanks to the failed trade that led to the Leafs not getting a healthy Nick Foligno, Kyle Dubas has reportedly been very reluctant to trade his first round picks for a rental. Additionally, the Leafs are very high on Fraser Minten, who has been lighting up the Western Hockey League since returning from his wrist injury, posting 39 points in 30 games.
Knies is certainly the Leafs' top prospect and Minten is in their top-3 prospects as well. Not to mention the salary cap crunch, which leaves the Leafs in need of all of the prospects and cheap entry-level contracts they can get in order to bide their time until he salary cap jumps up.
Finally, there is the issue of the Leafs only having one contract slot open, which is presumably reserved for Knies when he finishes his season at the University of Minnesota. For the Leafs to acquire O'Reilly, they would have to move either a roster player or one of their prospects playing for the Marlies to open a contract slot for O'Reilly without using up the spot reserved for Knies. The exception, of course, is if they do include Minten, who signed his ELC in October, in the deal.
We should know in the next few weeks what the Leafs will do as Dubas prefers to make his trades in advance of the deadline to avoid paying higher prices and to give the acquired players more time to adjust to the Leafs' systems before the playoffs begin.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 17 | 747 ANSWERS Blues' absurd asking price from the Leafs for Ryan O'Reilly revealed Should the Leafs trade their 1st along with one of Minten or Knies in exchange for Ryan O'Reilly? | ||
| Yes | 88 | 11.8 % |
| No | 595 | 79.7 % |
| As long as Knies doesn't move, I'm good | 64 | 8.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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