St Louis Blues Rumors: 3 Favorites to Acquire Ryan O'Reilly

St Louis Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly would prefer to stick around with the Blues and sign at least a multi-year extension. O'Reilly is a pending unrestricted free agent and has mentioned he'd even take a pay cut to stay in St Louis. Unfortunately for him it's a business and Blues management is exploring the trade market before the March 3 deadline. Here's the latest when it comes to favorites to land the former Conn Smythe winner:

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche are looking to add an impact center and O'Reilly fits the bill perfectly. He's familiar to the organization and has all the intangibles general manager Joe Sakic is looking for. O'Reilly has the skillset to be a factor all over the ice and his competitiveness rivals Nathan MacKinnon's. 'The Factor' is coming off a recent foot injury however appears to be fully recovered. He had a rough start to the season and sits with only 19 points in 40 games, however his resume speaks for itself and consider Colorado very interested.

Toronto Maple Leafs

As Pierre LeBrun of TSN pointed out a few weeks ago, the Leafs have discussed a O'Reilly trade as they look to upgrade their forward group. It would allow for the Blues captain to slide into the #3 hole in Toronto and push David Kampf down to a better suited role on the fourth line. This deal would be complicated, but the Maple Leafs should be considered one of the favorites.

Boston Bruins

The Bruins were in on Bo Horvat and could be up to something before the deadline. O'Reilly would provide the Bruins with another strong option down the middle and with the future's of David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron unknown at this point, could be the perfect replacement to re-sign and replace the two Boston legends. O'Reilly playing in Boston just sounds right.

Photo credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sport