Ryan O’Reilly is a chose your own narrative. One day he can be the leader that will take the Leafs to the promise land. The next he might be viewed as a third line center that the Leafs really didn’t need. Neither of these are fair assessments or likely capture the full extent of his value to the team, but I’m sure the Leafs would prefer if he immediately inserts himself into the leadership group and helps take them to the promise land. At least in the short term, Ryan O’Reilly being part of the Leafs core would be great and the question I’m interested in is figuring out “how do the Leafs get the best Ryan O’Reilly?”
It’s hard to see 2019 as the best Ryan O’Reilly. He won the Stanley Cup, the Conn Smythe, the Selke, and the highly prized Lady Byng. So let’s set the high bar when O’Reilly was 27 and in the prime of his career. He tied his career best 28 goals, and set a career high of 77 points. Mainly I think he did all of that just because he was so excited to get out of Buffalo.

Even the charts loved him that year.
A big part of went right in that first year in St. Louis for Ryan O’Reilly was the realization that his ideal winger is David Perron. In the regular season David Perron was …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation