Salary Cap Projections Update For Next Season Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk1OTYwMDQ1Mzk2MDQzMjMz/usatsi_17726491.jpg] The Toronto Maple Leafs made quite the splash on Friday night, announcing that the club has acquired forwards Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari in a three-team trade with the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild. As per the terms of the deal, the Blues receive forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette from the Maple Leafs along with Toronto's 2023 first-round draft pick, the Ottawa Senators' third-round pick in 2023, and Toronto's fourth-round pick in 2024. Minnesota, on the other hand, gets a 2025 fourth-round pick from Toronto in exchange for retaining 25 percent of O'Reilly's $7.5-million cap hit for the rest of this season. St. Louis retained 50 percent of O'Reilly's contract as well. Prospect forward Josh Pillar also went to Toronto from Minnesota via St. Louis. And just like that, the Maple Leafs land their big fish. O'Reilly is precisely the upgrade the team needs as they embark upon a do-or-die playoff run, bringing experience, defensive prowess, physicality, and formerly top-six caliber offensive production to a lineup already teeming with talent. It hasn't been an easy campaign for Toronto's newest prized possession, though. In 40 games this season, O'Reilly has racked up just 12 goals and seven assists for 19 points while logging upwards of 18 minutes in average nightly ice time, missing some significant time due to injury and not looking like himself when in the lineup. The Blues, however, have endured a disastrous season of their own in 2022-23, and it seems as if those struggles have trickled down throughout their lineup as the year rolls on. Having scored at a 60-to-80-point pace for the bulk of his career, it's likely that O'Reilly will benefit greatly from his new surroundings by either centering the Maple Leafs' third line or drawing in on the wing alongside one of Auston Matthews or John Tavares. Acciari is not a mere throw-in in this deal, either. The 31-year-old is a mere three years removed from a 20-goal season back in 2019-20 while also arriving in Toronto with 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points in 54 games. Acciari is looked at as a shot in the arm to the Maple Leafs' bottom six, a group which has been verging on stale for quite some time. While the upgrades are undoubtedly massive, the price to acquire them is just as big. But that's the gamble a team like the Maple Leafs must make to solidify their odds of a run to the Stanley Cup. No matter what, no one can say Kyle Dubas didn't pull out all the stops to give his team the best shot to win. The rest remains to be seen.
