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As if the meeting between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens needed more focus and excitement, the first visit of the Leafs historic rival at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday will mark the debut of forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari, acquired in a blockbuster three-team trade late Friday night.
Toronto dealt minor leaguers Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette but expended a significant amount of draft capital (their 2023 first-round pick, Ottawa’s 2023 third-rounder acquired in the Matt Murray deal, and their 2024 second-round pick, as well as a 2025 fourth-rounder going to Minnesota to retain 25% of O’Reilly’s $7.5 million cap hit) in the trade. The move struck an immediate tone for the club, who hopes to advance in the postseason for the first time since 2004 and who will likely face the Eastern Conference champ Tampa Bay Lightning for the second straight year.
“I felt that the move was important, considering the market going through all of our options, surveying the market, continuing to watch where our own team was at and where we're headed," Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said on Saturday. "O'Reilly's pedigree speaks for itself, but his defensive prowess, his playoff performance, what he brings to our center position, and what he will bring to our team on and off the ice. We thought it was vital for trying to accomplish what we're about to try to accomplish, especially with the level of competition that we're going to face. Noel Acciari is a player that we've talked about internally for a long time. Obviously, he's been in our division every year that we've all been here, except for this season when he signed with St. Louis. (He's a) right-handed centerman (who) can play center, can play wing, (he's a) high-end competitor, physical but can also chip in and score, has strong finish around the net and off the rush. So we felt that that accomplished what we're looking to do up front."
Dubas indicated that he preferred to trade draft picks over prospects already in the pipeline who are closer to contributing to the NHL squad, but in what is expected to be a deep and strong draft in Nashville next June, the Leafs may only have as few as two picks (three if the Arizona Coyotes do not exercise the option to take Toronto’s third-round pick for last year’s Nick Ritchie deal).
Although how the new additions are plugged in will be determined over the new few games, it is likely that O’Reilly will plug in at third-line center, allowing the struggling David Kampf to move down to the fourth line. O’Reilly will give Sheldon Keefe the ability to match him up against the opposition’s top-six centers (such as Boston’s Patrice Bergeron or Tampa’s Brayden Point), which will free up either Auston Matthews or John Tavares to play against lower lines.
Acciari likely plugs in on the fourth line with Kampf and Zach Aston-Reese.
Dubas said that Matt Murray has been placed on LTIR to make room for the moves on the cap, but said that the injured goalie will be eligible to come off on February 28, just days before the deadline. The Leafs GM also hinted that he is not necessarily done tinkering with his roster in advance of the March 3rd deadline.
"We are always looking to improve the team. It's hard to say right now, because you get through these (trades) and everything goes quiet," Dubas said, "Things (will) start to pick up and people ask you 'what do you have left to do? What are you looking to do?' and if there's a way we can continue to improve the team, we'll continue to look at that."
The Leafs recalled goalie Erik Kallgren on an emergency basis on Saturday morning after Ilya Samsonov missed practice with an illness on Friday. Joseph Woll will make his second start of the season against the Habs. Samsonov according to Keefe is feeling better and may travel to Chicago separately to play against the Hawks on Sunday.
In season 1 of the 31/32 Thoughts podcast, @JeffMarek & @FriedgeHNIC chatted with Ryan O'Reilly. It was a great conversation #LeafsForever https://t.co/CufFxQ5mQ1
— Amil Delic (@amandelic) February 18, 2023
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