Bob McKenzie makes interesting comments regarding Toronto trade rumors.

Rumors surrounding what seems like the imminent trade of Ryan O'Reilly have been picking up steam over the last several days, and today one of hockey's most respected insiders has put in his two cents. TSN's Bob McKenzie has narrowed the potential trade down to just two teams, and in fact his comments suggest that Colorado is only looking to make a deal with Toronto or Buffalo:

In the wake of (Saturday's reports), some NHL clubs with interest in O'Reilly said they hadn't been contacted by the Avalanche, so O'Reilly certainly wasn't being auctioned or shopped league-wide. What has apparently happened, though, is the Avalanche have quietly targeted a few specific teams - Buffalo and Toronto are the ones mentioned most often in rumors, but absolute confirmations have been hard to come by and it's been suggested to me Toronto and Colorado have previously had conversation about O'Reilly but nothing recently - they see as the best fit in terms of having both significant interest in O'Reilly and also the requisite blue-line piece or pieces that Colorado wants and needs in return.

It's going to be a tough sell for either of those franchises to pull the trigger, it's become more and more evident that Toronto is looking to blow up their existing roster, meanwhile Buffalo has been in rebuild mode for some time now. O'Reilly will be a free agent at the end of next season, so neither of these teams will likely be willing to mortgage their futures for a player they may not be able to lock down for any length of time.