Maple Leafs Insider Picks his #1 Trade Target for Toronto

The Toronto Maple Leafs' most pressing need and top priority as we get closer to the trade deadline is most certainly adding a middle-six center. Preferably one that can provide some offense.

A number of names have been bandied about as potential Leafs trade targets, but according to former Leaf and now TSN insider Mike Johnson, speaking on First Up Thursday morning, he sees one name as rising to the top as his No. 1 target for GM Brad Treliving to pursue. And that would be former (brief) Leaf and current Nashville Predator Ryan O'Reilly.

We know Ryan O’Reilly works well in Toronto. We know he has the respect of the group. We know that he had a very strong relationship with the coach and the system and has won doing it this way before. He would be #1 for me.
They need offense. They can’t just go get an energy, physical checker. That’s great to have, but they need a guy that can also create and provide offence to optimize their lineup.

As Johnson alluded to, O’Reilly knows Leafs head coach Craig Berube well, having played for him in St. Louis and leading the Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019. He was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy, racking up 23 playoff points in 26 games.

There’s no doubt that despite all the offensive talent this team has, their downfall in most of their first-round playoff defeats over the last several years has been a lack of offense when it’s most needed. In his last go-round with the Leafs, after being acquired at the 2023 trade deadline, O’Reilly provided 11 points in 13 regular season games, and then another nine points in 11 playoff contests, while helping the Buds to their first and only playoff series win in this iteration of the team.

Now at 33 years old, he's a true team leader, and would be a great respected veteran to add to the locker room. He still has two more years at $4.5 million left on his contract.

The only issue with this is that as a free agent after his last stint with the Blue & White, O'Reilly specifically chose to go to Nashville that summer over Toronto, perhaps due to the fact that his brother lives there, perhaps due to other reasons he didn't want to return.