The Toronto Maple Leafs will probably make a few more additions and subtractions to their roster prior to puck drop on the 2015-16 NHL regular season, but nothing is apt to top Brendan Shanahan's out of nowhere nabbing of hard-nosed head coach Mike Babcock.
Babcock comes to the Leafs with a wealth of NHL experience and success and it's likely that no other change will rival the importance of his arrival in Toronto. That being said, Shanahan and Babcock will need to reshape certain areas of the roster - even if Babcock's hiring likely means a full rebuild isn't in the cards - and they may have their sights set on a particular trade to help kick start the team along that path.
Colorado Avalanche center Ryan O'Reilly, a player whose name has been bandied about in NHL trade rumors since before he signed a two-year, $12 million bridge deal with the Avs prior to last season, is reportedly a player the Leafs would be "very interested" in adding this offseason.
As he enters the final year of said bridge deal, O'Reilly's status remains very much in the air - Avs GM Joe Sakic would reportedly like to resign the player, but may just not be able to handle the contract.
"So I look at it as if nothing has really changed there. They're hoping to sign him. They may not be able to. I think the sense is they probably can't, so they're really listening hard, I guess, on him.
"And I do believe the Maple Leafs would be very interested," Elliotte Friedman of Toronto's Sportsnet 590 said of O'Reilly early Friday, via TodaysSlapShot.com.
ESPN's Pierre LeBrun echoed Friedman's sentiment recently, suggesting in a report that signing O'Reilly remains the top choice for Sakic and Co., but that both possibilities are currently on the table.
"I like Ryan a lot, he's a very valuable player, he's part of our core," said Sakic. "My first priority would be to sign him. Obviously, we'll see where it all goes."
For the Leafs, a team whose toughness has been questioned time and again in recent seasons, O'Reilly would certainly bring a heft of grit and energy. Then again, he seems to fit a center mold that hasn't exactly proven successful for Toronto of late - he's a strong two-way player, sound defensively and with good offensive acumen, but he's not elite in any one specific area.
Thus, adding him to a center corps already comprised of the mostly disappointing Tyler Bozak and more potential than established production, Nazem Kadri, still leaves the Leafs without an established No. 1. Then again, as teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning proved throughout the recent NHL playoff run, today's game is more about scoring depth, about having players at all levels of the lineup able to put up points and contribute on a game-by-game basis - in short, it's a league built on four strong lines.
While that success-via-depth is soon to become a hindrance to both the Hawks and Lightning as cap constraints move to the fore thanks to big contracts already handed to stars - Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews - and soon-to-be handed to stars - Steven Stamkos - it's a formula that has proven its viability time and again.
In that sense, O'Reilly could be a very good fit for the Leafs.
Then again, if his contract demands are as exorbitant as they seem to be from the outside, Toronto would be wise not to destroy their own cap - they've currently got just over $17 million in space, according to Spotrac.com - via the addition of a player who desires a deal that would essentially give the team the same kind of top-heavy lineup they've already been struggling to overcome with the likes of Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf.
