Ryan O'Reilly recently turned down a special offer from the Leafs, but for a selfless reason
Ryan O'Reilly has played in the NHL for 4 different teams across 14 seasons and is 9 games short of 1,000 mark. He wore an "A" in his first 3 years with the Buffalo Sabres, then he wore the "C" in his final 3 seasons with the St. Louis Blues - leading his team to their first ever Stanley Cup.
Coming to Toronto, having worn a "C" for the past 3 seasons, and coming to a team with a leadership group that has been together for at least 5 seasons, he fit in like a glove with his selfless behaviour.
A part of his selfless behaviour and team-first mentality was when he was traded in the evening on the 17th of February after having just played a game with the Blues on the 16th. He made it abundantly clear that he was going to lace his skates up the following day for his Maple Leafs debut, not wanting to miss a game for his new team. A broken finger had unfortunately changed all that, but upon his return, he was offered a very special honour - one that he passed on for the right reasons.
Sheldon Keefe mentioned on Sunday that when Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were out of the lineup last week, he approached O'Reilly on whether or not he wanted to wear the "A" that night:
"He didn't want it - 'I don't need that, give it to someone else.' That's the type of guy that he is. Very selfless."
Instead, the "A" was given to Alexander Kerfoot - a player who has played hard for the team for a number of seasons and has become one of the most maligned players in the organization. It might not seem like a big move or an act of kindness, but being able to wear a letter on your jersey is a big thing for certain players, especially for depth guys like Kerfoot.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 17 | 126 ANSWERS Ryan O'Reilly recently turned down a special offer from the Leafs, but for a selfless reason How many points will O'Reilly record against Tampa in Round 1? | ||
| 2 or less | 16 | 12.7 % |
| 3-5 | 66 | 52.4 % |
| 6-8 | 34 | 27 % |
| More than 8 | 10 | 7.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
