Predators put ex-Leafs star on block with high asking price

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If Nashville starts rebuilding, it will take a significant package for teams to acquire Ryan O’Reilly via trade.

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Published Nov 26, 2025  •  2 minute read

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Nashville Predators centre Ryan O’Reilly warms up before a game against the Vancouver Canucks. AP PhotoArticle content

That’s quite the potential price for Ryan O’Reilly.

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With the Nashville Predators in the midst of another season going nowhere, the veteran centre could will be bound for the trade block months ahead of March 6 deadline in the National Hockey League.

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TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported on Tuesday night on Insider Trading that it likely would take a first-round pick and an A-level prospect to get O’Reilly, who turns 35 in February, out of Nashville.

That’s if Predators general manager Barry Trotz decides to try to start trading his team’s way out of trouble.

The Predators are in last place overall in the NHL standings after finishing 30th in 2024-25.

As crafty as O’Reilly is — he remains among the best faceoff men in the league and won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2019 in leading the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup title — age is catching up to him.

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He had 13 points in 22 games before the Predators played in Detroit against the Red Wings on Wednesday, putting him on pace for 48 points. He’s signed through the 2026-27 season with an average annual value of $4.5 million US.

Contributed for Maple Leafs

O’Reilly was a good piece for the Maple Leafs after he was acquired at the deadline in 2023, recording 11 points in 13 regular-season games before putting up nine in 11 playoff games. Toronto fell in five games against the eventual Cup champion Florida Panthers in the second round.

At a glance, the potential price for O’Reilly is steep, but this is how things are done in the NHL now. Significant packages are traded for players who aren’t at the elite level.

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Two recent examples from last March involve the Leafs and general manager Brad Treliving. Toronto gave up young centre Fraser Minten and a first-round pick to get defenceman Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins, a trade that is bound to be more lopsided in the Bruins’ favour as time goes on.

Months later, Carlo’s name keeps popping up in trade rumours in Toronto.

Treliving also sent a first-round pick, as well as forward Nikita Grebenkin, to the Philadelphia Flyers for centre Scott Laughton and two draft picks.

Considering the Leafs’ failure to move past the second round last spring and their hugely disappointing start to 2025-26, neither trade has been good for Toronto.

LeBrun reported that the Montreal Canadiens are among the teams with an interest in O’Reilly.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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