Proposed three-team trade offers for Ryan O’Reilly emerge

It’s been reported how likely it is that the St. Louis Blues will attempt to move Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly ahead of the trade deadline.

When it comes to the latter, Sportsnet’s Jason Bukala, their in-house expert with years of NHL front office and scouting experience, put together four trade proposals that we could see end up on the Blues’ table to pry out captain O’Reilly.

Bukala managed to dress a few possible destinations for O’Reilly despite his foot injury and how he was having a down year before he was sidelined. In 37 games this season, O’Reilly has only recorded 10 goals and six assists, while everyone has noticed his minus-28 rating. Bukala still links him to four potential buyers in the Carolina Hurricanes, Seattle Kraken, Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers. Of this four destinations, he believes that three of them could get involved in a three-team trade to acquire O’Reilly’s services. In the trade proposals for the Canes, Kraken and Oilers, Bukala involves the Arizona Coyotes as well, as the three teams would need to find a way to fit his $7.5 million cap hit into their system.

Hurricanes
To Carolina: Ryan O’Reilly
To St. Louis: Carolina’s second-round pick in 2023
To Arizona: Carolina sixth round pick in 2023 or 2024
(St. Louis and Arizona both retain 50 per cent of cap hit and cash)

Kraken
To Seattle: Ryan O’Reilly
To St. Louis: Seattle’s second-round pick (via Toronto) in 2023
To Arizona: Seattle’s sixth-round pick in 2023 or 2024
(St. Louis and Arizona both retain 50 per cent)

Oilers
To Edmonton: Ryan O’Reilly
To St.Louis: Edmonton’s second-round pick in 2023
To Arizona: Edmonton’s sixth-round pick in 2023 or 2024
(St. Louis and Arizona both retain 50 per cent)

When it comes to Minnesota, Bukala points out that the Wild has enough cap space to acquire O’Reilly straight up, though they might still demand for the Blues to absorb some of the cap hit for more flexibility at the deadline.

To Minnesota: Ryan O’Reilly
To St. Louis: Minnesota’s second-round pick in 2023

O’Reilly doesn’t have trade protection so he can be shopped around the league and won’t be limited to just Bukala’s predictions. However, with O’Reilly’s cap hit (actual salary owed in 2022-23: $6.0M), it sounds about right that a third team will get into the mix to get him on the move.

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