Stanley Cup Futures Unmoved by Toronto Maple Leafs Trade

Um, no. PointsBet Canadahas the Maple Leafs at 13.0 – tied for the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, well behind the Boston Bruins (5.5), Colorado Avalanche (7.5), Carolina Hurricanes (8.0), and now the Edmonton Oilers (11.0).

Over at BetMGM, Leafs’ futures for a Stanley Cup win before the trade was 11.0 and was the same after the Friday trade. However, their odds of winning the Eastern Conference went from 6.5 before the trade to 5.75 after.

Maple Leafs Make Good Move

Still, it was a great move by Leafs' general manager Kyle Dubas. O’Reilly wasn’t the captain of his former team, the St. Louis Blues, a Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup winner, because of his dazzling smile.

Concerning John Tavares, Ontario-born O’Reilly is captain material. And this great piece on nhl.com sheds light on while O’Reilly previously stated he wanted to sign a long-term contract with the Blues (he’s a UFA this summer), he has already fitting right in quite nicely with his new team, and has been hit with the excitement of potentially being able to help the Leafs win a Stanley Cup for the first time since the year the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).

O’Reilly has already impacted that line with Tavares and Mitch Marner. In that stinker Sunday night in Chicago, a 5-3 loss to the lousy Blackhawks - a team firmly in the running for the Connor Bedard sweepstakes - O’Reilly led the team in faceoff wins (tied with Auston Matthews, at 10). He also tied Matthews for team faceoff win percentage at 67 per cent – 10 won, five lost. You win playoff series with guys like this.

And that breakaway late in the game, off a feed from Marner, where he went to his backhand and rang it off the crossbar, shows the skill level of a guy who was a solid 20-30 goal scorer from 2013 through 2022.

Toronto Has Winnable Game vs. Buffalo

The Leafs face off against the Buffalo Sabres tonight at KeyBank Center (7:30 p.m.). The Sabres are fighting for a playoff spot – 28-22-6, for 60 points, three points out. Odds at Proline this morning are Leafs 1.57 and Buffalo 2.45 on the moneyline (Spread is Leafs -1, Sabres +1; O/U 6.5).

Interesting side note for bettors – Toronto is 13-10-4 when the opponent scores the first goal of the game, are 6-7-3 when tied after one period, and are 2-11-3 when trailing after two periods.

And they’re 29-10-4 when outshooting their opponent.