Before he got home from driving his kid to a minor hockey game Friday night, Sheldon Keefe was already computing possible line combos.
The Leafs are indeed back in the serious Stanley Cup conversation, looking much further than the first round roadblock that has frustrated Keefe, general manager Kyle Dubas and the core group as far back as 2017. Acquiring O’Reilly, who is a Cup, Conn Smythe and Frank Selke Trophy winner, and the thorny Acciari without losing anyone off the current roster energized Scotiabank Arena.Article content
Cap space was cleared in the fine print of the three-way deal with St. Louis and the Minnesota Wild late Friday to take on O’Reilly’s salary. But the Leafs had to demote both forwards Pontus Holmberg and Wayne Simmonds as well as moving goaltender Matt Murray to long-term injured reserve. With the injury to Tavares at the start of the Montreal playoff series in 2021 still a bitter memory, Keefe and Dubas were keen on getting O’Reilly as other Eastern contenders bulked up with big trades of their own.
“It makes us more difficult to match up against and us to dictate certain match-ups. We have Kampf, who is comfortable to play in tough match-ups and now we have more of that. And that’s when we’re healthy. We’ve been through this before when something happens in playoffs when we’ve lost a key centre or player.”Article content“That’s a pretty good wake up , really exciting for our team, our group and no doubt our fan base,” captain Tavares said.
“The group that we had prior to this trade had belief,” alternate captain Morgan Rielly said. “ to try and make a playoff run, you add players. An easy way to look at is that your team got better and that’s a great feeling.” “I don’t think that’s an issue,” Rielly added of the Leafs being C-plus. “We’ve had guys on teams who’ve been captains, whether that’s Gio or Ryan, you want that experience, want that character. They’ll take some time, figure out their roles and start playing.”
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