What considers the Ryan O’Reilly trade a win for the Leafs?
On today’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Toronto Maple Leafs’ reporter David Alter joined the show to discuss the weekend blockbuster surrounding the Maple Leafs acquiring St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciairi. David Alter also chats about the idea of whether general manager Kyle Dubas will continue exploring the market.
Frank Seravalli: Let’s dive into this week’s edition of the All 32 and discuss the big trade. Please welcome back to Daily Faceoff Live our friend David Alter from the Maple Leafs. He’s been covering this team all season long, maybe the only guy that’s been on the road every practice and game with the Maple Leafs. If you’re not following David Alter, you should be. David, we’ve had about 60 hours or so to process this trade of Ryan O’Reilly joining the Leafs. When you look at it, what do you make out of it? There are so many ways to go with this and not necessarily from a price perspective as I think everyone knows it’s a steep price to pay, but I guess my question is what would need to happen for the Toronto Maple Leafs to consider this a success when it’s all said and done?
David Alter: Well, I think a deep playoff run would be one. There’s no secret that this is a pure rental play here when you got two guys who play the same center position and are expiring at the end of the year with like you mention a steep price to get them including their first-round pick this year. But, a round, a couple of rounds, get some sort of playoff success and show you’re making progress in that department. The number one takeaway for me in all of this is not even just O’Reilly but it’s the complete lack of center depth that the Leafs have, so finding someone like Noel Acciari that can really craft out what the bottom six will look like and what a bottom six that could compete against the other bottom six’s those opponents could put up. Having a guy like O’Reilly could move Tavares and make him a bit more optimal on the wing as we have seen throughout some games. For me, the big takeaway is not just the acquisition of O’Reilly but it’s the center depth that position had been lacking. I thought they needed a third-line center, but by doing this they have addressed the top-six winger too by being able to move Tavares but also getting that bottom-six depth with Acciari.
Mike McKenna: If I was Kyle Dubas I would’ve made this trade as well. I also wonder if there’s more coming because the defence and the goaltending still make me nervous and I don’t think they’ll make a goalie change so let’s just focus on that back end. Think about the fact that this club now has nine pending UFAs, so do you think this club would go out and grab another rental or try to get someone with term?
David Alter: Yeah, this is a difficult one to crack. If you look at the trades that Dubas has made near the deadline they all have the same identity; picks, prospects that are not factored into top-tier and no roster players. You have to do something with your roster if you want to improve it or pick up a player with term. You’ll either have to move out a roster player or a top prospect as the Leafs don’t have the right assets they only have 5th and 6th-round picks going into the 2023 Draft. If they want to do that, if they want to add depth for goalies for the future or a player with term on defence; it will have to be a game changer like Jake Muzzin was when they did that in 2019. Other than that, it’s probably just another pure rental play and Luke Schenn is a name that gets thrown around a lot but the Leafs have guys Jordie Benn and Victor Mete. I do agree though Mike, they do need reassurance as some of these younger guys haven’t proven it yet in the playoff and you kind of want that price there just in case Liljegren or Sandin doesn’t make that step in this year’s playoffs.
You can watch the full episode here…