Livescore
Another Blues veteran is on the move ahead of the NHL trade deadline. This time, it’s the team’s captain.
St. Louis on Friday dealt center Ryan O’Reilly to the Maple Leafs as part of a three-team trade that also involved the Wild. Toronto announced the move after Minnesota’s game against the Stars.
O’Reilly is the second Blues core player in a week to be traded as the team moves further past its 2019 Stanley Cup triumph. Winger Vladimir Tarasenko was traded to the Rangers on Feb. 9.
MORE: Tarasenko trade grades
Full details on the move, and what it means for Toronto and St. Louis:
Ryan O’Reilly trade details
O’Reilly, 32, heads to Toronto with center Noel Acciari in a deal that involves three teams, four players and four draft picks.
We have acquired Ryan O’Reilly & Noel Acciari in a three-team trade with St. Louis & Minnesota.
STL receives Mikhail Abramov & Adam Gaudette, TOR’s 1st round pick in ’23, OTT’s 3rd round pick in ’23 & TOR’s 2nd round pick in ’24. MIN receives TOR’s 4th round pick in ’25. pic.twitter.com/QAOUZvUZfH
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 18, 2023
Toronto is giving up three of its picks in the deal — one each in 2023, 2024 and 2025 — as general manager Kyle Dubas adds an accomplished playoff performer to a team that is intent on advancing past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2013.
MORE: How to watch Blues games without cable
O’Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy as he led the Blues to the Cup in 2019. He has 19 goals and 30 assists in 51 career playoff games with St. Louis and Colorado.
This season, he has been limited to 40 games because of a broken foot. He returned to action Feb. 11 and played three games with St. Louis prior to the trade. For the year, he has 21 points (12 goals, nine assists).
Acciari, 31, had 10 goals and eight assists in 54 games for St. Louis this season.
The Blues get back two players who have spent the season playing for the Leafs’ AHL affiliate: Adam Gaudette, a 26-year-old journeyman center who has played in the NHL for the Canucks, Blackhawks and Senators; and Mikhail Abramov, a 21-year-old center from Russia who played in the QMJHL. He was selected by the Leafs in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL Draft.
More importantly, St. Louis adds draft capital: the Leafs’ first-round pick in 2023; the Senators’ third-rounder in 2023; and the Leafs’ second-rounder in 2024.
Minnesota’s role in the deal is mainly financial. It will retain 25 percent of O’Reilly’s salary in exchange for the Leafs’ fourth-rounder in 2025, while the Blues will retain 50 percent of O’Reilly’s salary, per Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com. O’Reilly is making $7.5 million in the final year of a seven-year, $52.5 million contract.
Read the full article here
