Is Ryan O'Reilly the most underrated forward in the NHL?

[sabremike]

The goaltender has nothing to do with the absolute lack of goals scored by the team. I get that ROR can't do it by himself, but Eichel, ROR, Reinhart, Kane, Okposo and Risto should have been enough to not be the worst offensive team in the league, no matter who was on the 3rd and 4th lines or who was coaching.

Not his fault, but BUFF's main problem this year was not goaltending (not that it was good either).

Reinhart was absolutely terrible for the first half of the season. Risto was pretty much terrible the whole season. Okposo was terrible to the point there was talk the injuries pretty much ended his career and that he should retire and go on LTIR. Kane is the textbook example of a guy who is all potential but never delivers. Why do you think it looked like we traded him for a 2nd rounder and a trash "prospect", but thankfully SJ re-signed him and we lucked into getting their 2019 first? The only reason Phail Housley isn't the worst coach in the sport is because Doug Weight exists.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Alex Tuch is pretty underrated, but I don't think he's the most underrated player in the league right now. ROR needs the right team, but all he cares about is $.

 

[Stephen]

The "Taylor Hall is a loser who never made the playoffs" talking point/narative says hi.

Oh yeah, when did O'Reilly put up an MVP worthy season again?

 

[Not Sure]

Alex Tuch is pretty underrated, but I don't think he's the most underrated player in the league right now. ROR needs the right team, but all he cares about is $.

Is there some source for this idea ROR only cares about money? He had the Sabres bent over and could have asked for just about anything when they traded for him. Hes on a pretty reasonable deal going forward, which is exactly what we wanted. Pay him his big money the first couple years while the teams bad and have a cheap 1/2c when you expect to be good. The cap goes up each year, and O'Reilly is the 14th highest paid center. Right between Jason Spezza and David Krejci.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

If the Sabres had a player of near Patrice Bergeron calibre in Ryan O'Reilly, they wouldn't be nearly as terrible as they have been the past few years. Seems like we've been hearing about how great of a two way player O'Reilly has been since he broke into the league almost a decade now but he's almost never part of even respectable teams. Hard to reconcile that when he's supposed to be such a key ingredient.

Does that mean McDavid is bad? lmao

 

[Panthaz89]

If the Sabres had a player of near Patrice Bergeron calibre in Ryan O'Reilly, they wouldn't be nearly as terrible as they have been the past few years. Seems like we've been hearing about how great of a two way player O'Reilly has been since he broke into the league almost a decade now but he's almost never part of even respectable teams. Hard to reconcile that when he's supposed to be such a key ingredient.

put Bergeron on the Sabres in place of O'Reily...are the Sabres a playoff team? If your answer is no(and it should be) then your point is moot.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

If anything he's become quite overrated.


A quality 2C but he doesn't drive the play offensively(In fact 5 on 5 he's actually pretty bad compared to other 2Cs).


He's overpaid for what he brings as well. High end 2Cs are not making 7.5M a year right now instead more in the 6-6.5M range.


He's a great player, fantastic defensively and a very hard worker but no he certainly isn't the most under-rated player in the league.

 

[sabremike]

If ROR could drive such a godawful roster offensively he would have to be better than McDavid, and if he walked across the Niagara River afterwards it would be an anticlimacs. I really don't think people realize just how horrible our roster was last year.

 

[Critical13]

Probably Dmitry Orlov, based on this past season and playoffs. Bonafide #1 out there.

edit: just saw title says forwards. in that case, I don't think we give Krecji enough love.

 

[93LEAFS]

Bergeron and Vlasic I think.

Vlasic spent another year in junior. He was drafted in 2005, and didn't play in the NHL until 2006-2007. 2nd rounders playing in their draft +2 while uncommon isn't that rare. For example Girard and Debrincat did it this year, and Aho (Carolina) and Carlo did it last year.

Aho for the Isles was a late round pick last summer and played I think 26 games this year.

Aho (NYI) is a bit of a weird case, as he's a multiple time re-entry. If drafted in his original year of draft eligibility he would have been drafted in 2014.

 

[tfong]

I love that Roy jab.

 

[Stephen]

put Bergeron on the Sabres in place of O'Reily...are the Sabres a playoff team? If your answer is no(and it should be) then your point is moot.

Certainly not a 29th to 31st place team pretty much every year...

 

[Stephen]

Look at some of those teams he’s played on; no one player would help that much.

Duchene, Mackinnon, Eichel, Barrie, Varlamov? ROR wasn't even the consensus best player on any of the teams he's ever played on.

 

[Aladyyn]

Duchene, Mackinnon, Eichel, Barrie, Varlamov? ROR wasn't even the consensus best player on any of the teams he's ever played on.

He's been better than Eichel and MacKinnon every season they've played together...

 

[Dubi Doo]

Certainly not a 29th to 31st place team pretty much every year...

Pretty obvious you haven't looked at the Sabres roster recently. The depth all around is atrocious. Bergeon replacing RoR would have little effect on where the Sabres finished.

 

[Mathew Barzal]

Lol

Lol

 

[Revelation]

Nah it's Kuznetsov

 

[Rschmitz]

He also played in his draft+1 season as a 2nd round pick. Is there another player that has done that?

Point did it as a third round pick

 

[bert]

If anything he's become quite overrated.


A quality 2C but he doesn't drive the play offensively(In fact 5 on 5 he's actually pretty bad compared to other 2Cs).


He's overpaid for what he brings as well. High end 2Cs are not making 7.5M a year right now instead more in the 6-6.5M range.


He's a great player, fantastic defensively and a very hard worker but no he certainly isn't the most under-rated player in the league.

Good grief

 

[Captain Mountain]

Most underrated is subjective and definitely changes all the time, but given his cost (1st, 2nd, good-not-great prospect and two guys that should have been considered cap dumps) I think he's pretty underrated.

Yes everybody agrees that ROR is a helluva player but when trades are proposed fans of teams who have interest in him shout the ask is much too high because after all ROR is just an elite 2C. Hahaha dumb Habs fans wouldn't even trade the 3rd overall for a player at the position they need desperately who is top 10-15 at that position who is 27 years old, not old.

27 is above their team average. And given what ROR actually went for, don't see why Montreal should have needed to give up their 3rd OA.

Plus, Montreal paid less for Domi who has been really good at C for them and got Kotkaniemi, who is progressing faster than anyone really expected. He's producing at basically the same rate this year in the NHL as he was last year in Finland.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Point did it as a third round pick

No he didn't. He played 9 AHL games. Point's 1st NHL action was in his D+3 season.

 

[thethirdhockeyman91]

Probably, he’s underrated because he’s looks like a typical 4th line grinder, with the the no visor and scrubby beard.

 

[TK 421]

Probably, he’s underrated because he’s looks like a typical 4th line grinder, with the the no visor and scrubby beard.

Hey man.... that beard has magic powers.

 

[David Dennison]

Probably, he’s underrated because he’s looks like a typical 4th line grinder, with the the no visor and scrubby beard.

He has two threads on the first page. OVERRATED.

 

[SenzZen]

Point did it as a third round pick