Insider reports the Leafs wanted a third Blues forward included in O'Reilly trade

On this morning's 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman touched on the Ryan O'Reilly trade and stated that the Leafs made this move because the forward market was becoming bare rather quickly. First, Bo Horvat and Vladimir Tarasenko were dealt and then Tyler Bertuzzi was taken off of the trading block due to the Wings being in contention for a playoff spot. That led the Leafs to pull the trigger on the Ryan O'Reilly deal, according to Friedman, to avoid missing out on a big time addition and having to settle for a lesser piece.

In discussing the trade, Friedman made an interesting note that the Leafs wanted a third Blues' forward included in the deal. That forward was Ivan Barbashev - however, the two sides could not come to terms on fair compensation. Friedman notes that had Barbashev been included in the deal, it would've costed the Leafs a top prospect and/or someone from their roster, both of which Kyle Dubas stated Saturday that he did not want to lose, opting instead to take a deal that revolved around mostly draft picks.

Barbashev would have added some more physicality and toughness along with O'Reilly and Noel Acciari to go with some secondary scoring. Unfortunately, with a $2.25M cap hit for this season, it would have had to have been money in and money out for him to be included in the deal. Either that, or it would have cost the Leafs more picks and prospects to have his salary retained along with O'Reilly's.