The forward was hit in the hand by an Auston Matthews shot in the second period of a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday.
O'Reilly was placed on long-term injured reserve, meaning he will be out for a minimum of 24 days and 10 games. Coach Sheldon Keefe said he is expected back prior to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"He actually met with the specialist yesterday and ended up having the surgery here this morning, which in a lot of cases, just sort of how it goes, just to stabilize the fracture a little bit more," Keefe said Tuesday. "I was told it went really well and the timeline's four weeks so we'll give him that time, of course. The nature of the injury I think we'll see him back on skates pretty quickly and that's a good sign and then, of course, we'll welcome him back when he's good and ready."
O'Reilly was acquired in a three-team trade with the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild on Feb. 17. Toronto also acquired forwards Noel Acciari (Blues) and Sam Lafferty (Chicago Blackhawks), and defensemen Jake McCabe (Blackhawks), Luke Schenn (Canucks) and Erik Gustafsson (Washington Capitals) prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 3.
O'Reilly has five points (three goals, two assists) in eight games since joining the Maple Leafs, including a hat trick in a 6-3 win at the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 21. He has 24 points (15 goals, nine assists) in 48 games this season.
"Obviously when we get him, you get excited and you know what he can bring, so to lose him certainly it's tough and disappointing," Keefe said. "But we acquired him to be healthy ready to go for the playoffs and you know, that will be the case. So, to that end, it's not bad in terms of what the bigger picture is, and especially with the nature of the injury, he won't miss much time actually on the ice and skating and, and all of that."
O'Reilly won the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy voted as MVP of the playoffs with the Blues in 2019.
"Obviously, he's a big part of our team," forward William Nylander said. "Stuff like that happens so we have to rally around him and bear down for that stretch of] whatever games he misses."
The Maple Leafs recalled forwards
[Pontus Holmberg
and
Alex Steeves
from Toronto of the American Hockey League on Monday with O'Reilly and forward John Tavares (illness) not playing at the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
"I think just more so for him out of an abundance of caution we'll leave him alone for tomorrow and get him ready for Saturday (against the Edmonton Oilers)," Keefe said Monday. "There's a bug going around, we've been travelling a lot ... I think it's more so on our side of it than his, we just said, 'Oh, let's let's just be cautious on this one' and as long as he continues to progress well, he'll be ready to go for Saturday."
After a 4-3 win against the Devils, the Maple Leafs (39-17-8) are second in the Atlantic Division, five points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"We did see enough in the short time in terms of what [O'Reilly] can bring and use him in different spots like we've talked an awful lot about it, you can see the impact that he can have on our team," Keefe said. " So, I think knowing that we'll have him healthy, ready to go for playoffs is good and we'll see how it goes, but I suspect he'll get a good chunk of the regular season too."
