Former Maple Leafs Pivot Ryan O'Reilly Among Two Potential Trade Targets in Toronto
James Mirtle has identified potential trade targets to shore up the Leafs' depth at center, not closing the door on a reunion between the team and Ryan O'Reilly.
Although Auston Matthews is expected to return from his mysterious upper-body injury next week, the Leafs will still lack depth down the middle with David Kampf dealing with a lower-body injury and Calle Jarnkrok recovering from surgery.
Additionally, the Leafs are without Max Domi who was placed on IR after missing consecutive practices with some nagging injuries.
Essentially, the Leafs have been without four capable centers, and while they have players like Steven Lorentz, Connor Dewar, Pontus Holmberg and Fraser Minten able to play center, they still need to shore up their depth down the middle.
On Thursday's JD Bunkis podcast, Leafs reporter James Mirtle discussed his recent article in The Athletic outlining a number of centers that would be viable targets for the Leafs. On that list was Nick Bjugstad and former Leaf Ryan O'Reilly.
Bjugstad signed a 2-year deal with the Utah Hockey Club this past off-season that carries a $2.1M cap hit to the end of next season.
The 6'6, 205-pound center has bounced around since being drafted in the first round of the 2010 draft playing for the Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild, Arizona Coyotes/Utah Hockey Club and Edmonton Oilers. Mirtle explained that Bjugstad makes the most sense for the Leafs due to his size and ability to contribute offensively and his cheaper cap hit.
However, Mirtle also noted that while Ryan O'Reilly left Toronto for a much quieter environment in Nashville in the summer of 2023, the Leafs' front office would definitely consider bringing him back.
The acquisition cost of O'Reilly would be exorbitant and would force the Leafs to part with significant assets to have the Predators or another team retain salary on the 33-year-old.
As the Leafs continue to thrive, even with a significant lack of depth down the middle, GM Brad Treliving has almost certainly upped his efforts to acquire another center over the last week or two.
