Former Maple Leaf Ryan O'Reilly bashes certain Leafs players

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Daniel Lucente
August 14, 2024 (11:42)

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Former Toronto Maple Leaf Ryan O'Reilly believes the current roster of the Leafs isn't good enough to win a Stanley Cup due to certain players on the team.

Ryan O'Reilly had a quick pit stop as a member of the Maple Leafs when the team acquired him via a trade just before the 2022-23 trade deadline. O'Reilly did well in his short time with the Leafs, having scored 11 points in 13 games, as well adding a further nine points in 11 playoff games. He did well enough for the Leafs to finally advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. Fans of the team were shocked when he was not re-signed for the following season.

Dan Powers of The Empty Netters Podcast explained why O'Reilly chose not to return to the team.

''I was talking to someone who knows Ryan O'Reilly very well, and he had talked about his time in Toronto and was like, 'certain people on this Toronto team will never win, and I don't want to be here anymore'. And he's not saying that about the people in [Nashville's] locker room right now.''

Dan Powers did not specify which exact players Ryan O'Reilly was referring to, however it's clear that there is an internal issue here.

Ryan O'Reilly was the captain of the St. Louis Blues when they won the Stanley Cup during the 2018-19 season and he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs and is extremely respected by his teammates, so his comments should not be taken lightly as he knows exactly what he is talking about.

It might be time for Leafs GM Brad Treliving to take Ryan O'Reilly's comments to heart as clearly the Leafs have not been able to make any deep playoff runs for a long time, so perhaps major changes are needed. Now that an announcement is expected to make Auston Matthews the captain, fans are hoping that 's the beginning of changes that will lead the team on the right path.

Source: Maple Leafs Daily
Ryan O'Reilly allegedly states that a pair of current Leafs will never win a Cup