What is Ryan O'Reilly's experience worth to Maple Leafs?

Ryan O'Reilly's name is on the Stanley Cup but is his experience enough to convince Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas to make an all-in type trade as the Maple Leafs aim to become playoff ready in this make-or-break season?

Video Transcript

OMAR: The St. Louis Blues are not having the season that they thought they would. They're starting to win some games, but also they're losing a lot of games. And perhaps this could be a year where they don't make the playoffs.

So obviously the question is, how does this affect the Leafs? And the reason this affects the Leafs is not actual speculation. There is some warmth and heat to this. Apparently, the Leafs have discussed internally the idea of adding a Ryan O'Reilly to the team, or maybe whether it's within the near future or at the deadline.

Now, Leafs fans are kind of split on this. You have some Leafs fans who are like, yes, that's great. We have a veteran presence, an Ontario kid who can come up, join, play third line center, maybe play on the line with Tavares. Maybe that's your left wing option.

And then there are some who are kind of like, OK, well, do we need to get another, quote, unquote, "old" player who used to be "good" and may not be good anymore? And again, a lot of people are referencing O'Reilly's numbers-- O'Reilly's numbers right now and how he's not getting much points and he's been on for a lot of goals against.

Now, I think it's-- again, it's important to keep in mind that the St. Louis Blues, overall as a team, has been bad. So that could factor into things. I mean, I don't think we can disregard the full on playoff experience, what he was able to do when the St. Louis Blues won their cup. I want to say he had like 24 points in 26 games, something like that, won the Conn Smythe, right?

The defensive awareness is like his literal focus on defensive recovery. He's been one of the players who's probably had one of the best backhands in the league, considering the shape of his stick. So I understand on both ends why it would work and why it wouldn't work.

Now, I do think there might be more flashy options, if that makes sense, when it comes to upgrading left wing. I've talked about Bo Horvat. I don't know if that's going to happen. Timo Meier in San Jose seems to be a possibility as well, considering how the Sharks' season is going.

So I don't know. I think it just depends on what the price is going to be. Salary will have to be retained, absolutely. But could this be a deal that Dubas works out where you add to the roster without having to give up a lot?

Now, on that point, do we need another year of kind of going halfway in when it comes to the trade deadline? Again, I've kind of talked about it a lot. I think this might-- if there was ever a year for Dubas to fully go in on a deal at the deadline, it would be this one.

And I'm not sure if Ryan O'Reilly is that full go for it deal. I'm not saying it hurts the team. I'm not saying it doesn't help at all. But I don't know if that's enough. You know what I mean?

Now, would I hate a Ryan O'Reilly trade? No, but I think it'd be one of those things where I'd have to kind of wait and see. But again, I don't think you can really scoff at or kind of shake your head or roll your eyes at experience. And experience is experience. And having more players on the team that has been there, that has done that, that has gone all the way, that has been able to get through that adversity, especially a player like Ryan O'Reilly, who went from the Buffalo Sabers to the St. Louis Blues and then led the team all the way to a cup, I mean, that would be pretty cool to have on this Leafs team, especially a Leafs team that really needs to get things done this year.