When the John Tavares draft was coming in 2009, the book on Ryan O’Reilly was he wasn’t quick enough to be an NHL player.
Which O’Reilly are the Leafs getting? He’s not the upper-echelon O’Reilly who won the Conn Smythe Trophy in leading the St. Louis Blues to the Stanley Cup — that we’ve been told by those who know him best. But he doesn’t have to be that for the Leafs.
The options are many now for coach Sheldon Keefe. O’Reilly is the rare NHL player who has scored better in the post-season than he has in the regular season. He has scored at 72-point pace at playoff time but just a 58-point pace for his career during the regular season. That’s higher playoff points than Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander or Tavares have averaged in their careers. Matthews, for the record, averages 34 more points per season than O’Reilly; Marner averages 30 more. In playoffs, they both trail O’Reilly by three points per season.
With all the Leafs apparent offensive talent, they have been eliminated in the past four seasons, scoring just three goals in those four defeats. O’Reilly should help prevent goals while chipping in on offence. This is a short-term win for the Leafs, assuming O’Reilly isn’t in any kind of rapid decline. The draft picks gone will mean something later. Today is only about winning.Article contentThe good news: O’Reilly and his new Leafs teammate Noel Acciari were the first pair of penalty killers for the St. Louis Blues. The bad news: The Blues are 24th in the NHL when down a man … Tavares, taken first in 2009, leads all scorers from that draft by more than 200 points.
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