Ryan O'Reilly is headed to Toronto.
The St. Louis Blues traded their captain, along with veteran forward Noel Acciari, to the Maple Leafs, in exchange for a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick (via Ottawa), and forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette, the teams announced Friday.
The Blues will retain 50% of O'Reilly's cap hit. The Minnesota Wild are retaining an additional 25% and will receive Toronto's 2025 fourth-round pick as part of the deal. The Wild are also sending prospect Josh Pillar to the Leafs.
O'Reilly is in the final season of a seven-year contract that pays him $7.5-million annually, but his cap hit with Toronto will be $1.875 million with the retainments.
The 32-year-old center is in the midst of his least productive season on a per-game basis since he was a teenager as he's registered 12 goals and seven assists in 40 contests. He also missed over a month with a broken foot.
But O'Reilly has been one of the game's best two-way centers through his career. He's finished top five in Selke Trophy voting in each of the past four seasons, winning the award in 2018-19. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy that season when he led the Blues with 23 points in 26 playoff games en route to the franchise's first Stanley Cup.
O'Reilly's underlying numbers have been strong in previous years, but they've dipped this season.
A native of Clinton, Ontario, O'Reilly projects to slot in as Toronto's third-line center behind Auston Matthews and John Tavares while bumping David Kampf down to the fourth line.
Acciari, meanwhile, is also in the final year of his deal and carries a cap hit of $1.25 million. The 31-year-old will bring physicality and versatility to Toronto's bottom-six forward group. He's recorded 10 goals, eight assists, and 168 hits in 54 games this season. He can play both center and wing, he's won 53.5% of his faceoffs this season, and has graded well defensively.
Abramov, a Russian forward selected in the fourth round by the Leafs in 2019, has recorded six goals and 10 assists in 34 games with the AHL's Toronto Marlies.
Gaudette, a 218-game NHL veteran, did not appear in a game with the Leafs after inking a one-year, $750,000 deal in the offseason. He's tallied 20 goals and 14 helpers in 40 AHL contests. The 26-year-old will be a restricted free agent this summer.
Pillar was a fourth-round pick by the Wild in 2021. The 5-foot-11 forward has registered 12 points in 12 games with the WHL's Saskatoon Blades this season.
The Leafs continue to deal from their draft-pick cupboard. They've selected in the first round just once since 2019 and have traded away eight picks over the next three drafts.
The Blues, meanwhile, now hold three first-round picks in the 2023 draft after dealing Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers earlier in February. St. Louis still has multiple pending UFAs to deal from, including forward Ivan Barbashev. It's also reportedly "possible" that Blues GM Doug Armstrong trades away one of his top-four defensemen with term.
