Fantasy Hockey Aftermath Of Ryan O’Reilly Leafs Trade
Ryan O’Reilly was traded to the Leafs but what does it mean for fantasy hockey? Should fantasy owners rush to the waiver wire to add the former Blues captain? If owned, should you try to broker a trade for O’Reilly? Let’s talk about it.
As I’m writing this O’Reilly is still owned in less than 50% of fantasy leagues. There’s a good chance you can take O’Reilly off the waiver wire. Without burying the lead too much, this trade is a much better real life trade than a fantasy hockey trade. Adding O’Reilly makes Toronto incredible deep down the middle, but he’s still going to be skating on the third line.
It will all be about how Sheldon Keefe deploys O’Reilly. Conventional wisdom would tell you O’Reilly should be a third line center at this stage of his career. The former Blue has 19 points in 40 games. He’s also a -24 on the season. It’s a sharp decline from the 58 points he had a year ago.
O’Reilly has that championship pedigree. He’s a grinder that’s going to win faceoffs and be that 200-foot player. We’re still talking about fantasy. If O’Reilly spends a vast majority of the time Alexander Kerfoot and Calle Jarnkrok, it’s hard to imagine his point total will skyrocket.
There is a chance O’Reilly plays some winger on the second line along with John Tavares and Mitch Marner. If that were to happen, there is a great chance he’s picking up assists just from playing with a much more talented team.
The problem is O’Reilly isn’t going to see time with that electric Leafs’ powerplay unit. John Tavares is already the guy winning faceoffs. You’re also not taking Nylander, Matthews, or Marner off the line. It’s going to be second powerplay duty for O’Reilly.
I don’t mind O’Reilly as a nightly streaming target but that’s probably his ceiling. We’re still talking about a guy who’s averaging 1.5 fantasy points per game. Do we really think that number is going to shoot up the charts as a veteran player limiting ice time for a cup run? I just don’t buy it.
If you’re in a deep league like ours and O’Reilly is owned, fielding trade offers now or if O’Reilly gets off to a hot start would be the correct course of action. If O’Reilly pockets some points out the gate, trade him while his stock is at an absolute premium.
