O'Reilly hinted about what went wrong with the Maple Leafs and what the future holds for the pending unrestricted free agent.
O'Reilly hinted about what went wrong with the Maple Leafs and what the future holds for the pending unrestricted free agent.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan O'Reilly was the most vocal critic of his own play during his 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I don't think I created enough out there," he said in his season-ending availability back on May 15.
Less than a month later, the pending unrestricted free agent was a guest TSN's OverDrive on Thursday where he discussed a number of topics, including his team's inability to get past the Florida Panthers in the second round.
"I think playing against Florida and how they came out and played so loose and just physical that as we saw we kind of dug ourselves a hole quick and just didn't kind of respond the way we needed to there," O'Reilly said. "And then Bob (Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky) gets hot and next thing you know we're down two and not feeling great about ourselves. There are so many things we could have done differently, it's frustrating. We could have given that series a better chance and that's just the way the game goes sometimes"
O'Reilly, who joined the Maple Leafs in February as part of a deal that also brought Noel Acciari to the club, said that although he had only been with the team for a short period of time, he could feel the pressure and tension the team was feeling to finally win a playoff round for the first time in 2004 when they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
Perhaps the adrenaline of finally busting through left a bit of a hangover into Round 2.
"When you get into these moments when it's challenging you have to find a way to pull something out of each other and find a way to give a bit more," O'Reilly said. "I think at times against Tampa we did that; It's so many things that could have been different. We didn't respond a certain way we needed to in a couple of those games and it's disappointing. I feel I wish it could have done better and I know other guys feel that way too."
O'Reilly played 13 regular season games for the Leafs, scoring four goals and providing seven assists. However, he had to sit out for almost a month due to a broken finger. During the playoffs, he scored three goals and had six assists in 11 games. But, in the Leafs' second-round playoff defeat against the Panthers, he managed only one goal and one assist.
Will O'Reilly return to the Maple Leafs?
O'Reilly will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and is coming off a contract that paid him an average annual value of $7.5 million. Although it's unlikely that he would get a similar cap number in a new deal, the Maple Leafs do not have a lot of salary cap space. With just 15 contracts committed for next season, Capfriendly.com projects just over $9.1 million in cap space. That number could go up if Jake Muzzin begins the season on long-term injured reserve and they get out from under the contract of goaltender Matt Murray ($4.875 million).
“Just this month, things will start to kind of heat up and, you know, hopefully, things go where we like,” O’Reilly said about his pending free agency. "We’ll see if everything works out and (we can) get something done. But yeah, to be a Leaf and experience that, it’s such a different thing that I wish every guy in the league got to kind of experience. It’s more than just the game here. It’s something really above and beyond."
Related
Maple Leafs' TikTok Most Viral of NHL Teams, Ranked 62nd Among 'Big 4' Sports, According to Study
Steven Stamkos Explains Why He Fought Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews During Playoffs