Blues trade captain Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari to Toronto Maple Leafs

Say goodbye to the captain.

The Blues traded Ryan O’Reilly to Toronto on Friday night, shipping their captain away during a pre-trade deadline selloff. Noel Acciari was also part of the deal going to the Maple Leafs, as St. Louis acquired a 2023 first-round pick (Toronto), a 2024 second-round pick (Toronto), a 2023 third-round pick (Ottawa), AHL forwards Mikahil Abramov and Adam Gaudette.

The Blues retained 50% of O’Reilly’s salary. In a three-way trade, the Minnesota Wild retained 25% of O’Reilly’s salary, received a 2025 fourth-round pick from the Maple Leafs. Toronto got Wild forward prospect Josh Pillar, currently playing in the Western Hockey League.

The trade was the Blues’ second major one since the All-Star break, after it traded Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola to the Rangers last week. The Blues acquired conditional first- and fourth-round picks in that trade, in addition to Sammy Blais and minor-league defenseman Hunter Skinner.

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The trade with the Maple Leafs now gives the Blues three first-round picks in the upcoming draft: their own, the lower of the Rangers and Stars, plus Toronto’s first-rounder.

Abramov, 21, was a fourth-round pick in 2019 who has six goals and 10 assists in 34 AHL games for the Maple Leafs. He had seven goals and 21 assists in 66 games for the Marlies in 2021-22.

Gaudette, who has played 219 NHL games, has 34 points in 40 AHL games this season. Originally a fifth-round pick by Vancouver in 2015, Gaudette has 27 goals and 43 assists over an NHL career that began with the Canucks in 2017-18 and also included stints Chicago and Ottawa.

Gaudette, 26, was signed by Toronto last July as a free agent, and has played exclusively for the AHL Marlies this season, with 20 goals and 14 assists in 40 games.

O’Reilly, 32, was a pending unrestricted free agent set to hit the open market this summer, a two-way center that has struggled to 12 goals and seven assists in 40 games. He missed the month of January with a foot injury, and had two goals and an assist since the Blues returned from their break.

Despite his downturn in production, O’Reilly was still arguably the best available center on the trade market.

O’Reilly will be remembered in St. Louis as the Conn Smythe winner when the Blues won the 2019 Stanley Cup. His trade from Buffalo in the summer of 2018 was a franchise-altering move. He won a Selke Trophy in 2018-19, and succeeded Alex Pietrangelo as Blues captain in 2019-20.

Even after moving O’Reilly, the Blues still have a tradable asset in forward Ivan Barbashev. He is on an expiring contract, figures to help a contending team down their lineup, and is attracting a lot of interest in the market.

Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon take a break from pondering who could be traded next and when, and turn their attention toward a veteran Blues leader who is performing like you would hope a potential future captain would.

Ben Frederickson ,  Jeff Gordon ,  Gary Hairlson

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