Following the Leafs' acquisition of Ryan O'Reilly, Daily FaceOff's Frank Seravalli criticized Kyle Dubas and did not believe that O'Reilly was worth the price tag. Seravalli did not believe that O'Reilly was the type of player the Leafs needed and wanted them to go after Timo Meier instead.
Seravalli had this to say at the time of the trade. "This is either going to be Kyle Dubas' signature move or it's going to be the signature on his death warrant as GM of the Maple Leafs. I'm a Ryan O'Reilly fan... my question is, when you watch this season, how far removed his he from that 2019 player and Selke win. I think watching this year, I would say pretty far away from that player. Does this trade, in your opinion, shift the balance of power in the East?... So you're able to get through Tampa... I don't look at this trade and say 'this helps them vastly change this power structure that's in place. Do you think the Tampa Bay Lightning are sitting there saying today 'oh man, I'm shaking in my boots that they got Ryan O'Reilly now?'"
Through three games against the Lightning so far this playoffs, the acquisition of O'Reilly has paid off. He has 5 points in those three games, but most importantly, scored the tying goal in Game 3 with just a minute left and then won the faceoff cleanly back to Morgan Rielly for the overtime winner. His play, so far, appears to have made Seravalli want to walk back his criticism of O'Reilly at the time of the deal.
Seravalli was on The FAN 590 Morning Show today and complimented O'Reilly saying, "The Leafs, they need a killer and Ryan O'Reilly is a killer. It's so important to have someone they can rely on to step up." His comments this morning are a complete 180 from how he felt about the trade just 2 months ago and goes to show that insiders don't really know as much as they seem to think they do - at least Seravalli anyway.
