Confirmed with Link: ROR traded to STL

[blueper]

I can see Thompson ending up as a top 6 player. I can see him ending up on a #1 PP unit with his shot.
I won't be surprised if he ends up having a 30 goal season or 2 playing with the elite centers in Buffalo.
I still love the trade.
Of the top prospects, I guess Thompson is the one I'd want to go, but for me it was really a toss up between him and Kostin. Hopefully, Kostin breaks out this year in the AHL as he gets more comfortable with the rink size and just being over here.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

We went to the WCF with Backes-Stastny-Lehtera we now have Schenn-O'Reilly-Bozak that's a 5-10 point increase per player. Much happier with this lineup than the one a few years ago

 

[TK 421]

We went to the WCF with Backes-Stastny-Lehtera we now have Schenn-O'Reilly-Bozak that's a 5-10 point increase per player. Much happier with this lineup than the one a few years ago

O'Reilly should put up similar #'s to Schenn while being light years better defensively so I have him as our No1 Center. Agree with you big time here, kind of hard not to as you put it into perspective rather well.

I perused all the Central teams boards from around the time of the trade to gauge how concerned they were with this deal combined with our other moves and all except the Nashville board have evidenced some consternation that we're firmly back in the contender group in this division. Particularly Avs fans who have rightly recognized we improved considerably and are very familiar with how good O'Reilly is.

Some hilarious comments from some of the Preds fans had me laughing uncontrollably.

"Desperation moves from the Blues make me happy as a Preds fan"

"O'Reilly is a marginal upgrade on Stastny"

"They didn't improve at all"

Denial evidently isn't just a river in Egypt.

I think O'Reilly is going to have a HUGE impact for us, he can eat Dzone starts for breakfast and still produced between 60-70 pts here. I want the season to start NOW. Can't remember being this excited in recent memory. And from the sounds of it our new No1 feels the same.

 

[TruBlu]

O'Reilly should put up similar #'s to Schenn while being light years better defensively so I have him as our No1 Center. Agree with you big time here, kind of hard not to as you put it into perspective rather well.

I perused all the Central teams boards from around the time of the trade to gauge how concerned they were with this deal combined with our other moves and all except the Nashville board have evidenced some consternation that we're firmly back in the contender group in this division. Particularly Avs fans who have rightly recognized we improved considerably and are very familiar with how good O'Reilly is.

Some hilarious comments from some of the Preds fans had me laughing uncontrollably.

"Desperation moves from the Blues make me happy as a Preds fan"

"O'Reilly is a marginal upgrade on Stastny"

"They didn't improve at all"

Denial evidently isn't just a river in Egypt.

I think O'Reilly is going to have a HUGE impact for us, he can eat Dzone starts for breakfast and still produced between 60-70 pts here. I want the season to start NOW. Can't remember being this excited in recent memory. And from the sounds of it our new No1 feels the same.

I'm excited we got him. We just made a lot of personnel changes. I want to see how the chemistry is with the current group before I get too excited.

 

[Ranksu]

I'm thrilled that we have center who is currently best faceoff guy in the world. Not at o-zone starts he's best faceoff guy in all zones of the ice at home and away games. Knowing he'll be the guy whom Yeo can put out there in every crucial time at game, gives me chills.

Just look this faceoff stats.

Faceoff specialist are IMO bit underrated these days, note how big difference they are when you have powerplay/shorthanded time or let say last faceoffs at game at o/d-zones. Its such a big advance in your team have that kind of guy in your team. Huge advance.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

O'Reilly should put up similar #'s to Schenn while being light years better defensively so I have him as our No1 Center. Agree with you big time here, kind of hard not to as you put it into perspective rather well.

I perused all the Central teams boards from around the time of the trade to gauge how concerned they were with this deal combined with our other moves and all except the Nashville board have evidenced some consternation that we're firmly back in the contender group in this division. Particularly Avs fans who have rightly recognized we improved considerably and are very familiar with how good O'Reilly is.

Some hilarious comments from some of the Preds fans had me laughing uncontrollably.

"Desperation moves from the Blues make me happy as a Preds fan"

"O'Reilly is a marginal upgrade on Stastny"

"They didn't improve at all"

Denial evidently isn't just a river in Egypt.

I think O'Reilly is going to have a HUGE impact for us, he can eat Dzone starts for breakfast and still produced between 60-70 pts here. I want the season to start NOW. Can't remember being this excited in recent memory. And from the sounds of it our new No1 feels the same.

I wasn't putting Schenn first to say he was better than O'Reilly, I put him first because he resembles Backes the most. O'Reilly resembles Stastny the most, and well Bozak is just better all around than Lehtera.

 

[TK 421]

I wasn't putting Schenn first to say he was better than O'Reilly, I put him first because he resembles Backes the most. O'Reilly resembles Stastny the most, and well Bozak is just better all around than Lehtera.

Yeah ikr, crazy to think we were bottom 10 in center depth forever and Doug Armstrong goes out and fixes it in consecutive off seasons to the point where Thomas could be our 4th line center this year... unreal. Still can't get over how much we've improved at the position.

 

[simon IC]

So happy with the ROR trade! With all the trade and FA talk going on, ROR was the prize I had my eyes on. I still can't believe Armstrong pulled it off!

 

[Vincenzo Arelliti]

W/O O’Reilly

Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
Perron Bozak Maroon
Steen Thomas Fabbri
Jaskin Barbashev Soshnikov





W/ O’Reilly

Perron O’Reilly Tarasenko
Schwartz Schenn Fabbri
Steen Bozak Thomas
Maroon Barbashev Soshnikov

 

[Ranksu]

W/O O’Reilly

Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
Perron Bozak Maroon
Steen Thomas Fabbri
Jaskin Barbashev Soshnikov





W/ O’Reilly

Perron O’Reilly Tarasenko
Schwartz Schenn Fabbri
Steen Bozak Thomas
Maroon Barbashev Soshnikov

Sundqvist or Barbashev at 4th line Center

 

[Robb_K]

I'm thrilled that we have center who is currently best faceoff guy in the world. Not at o-zone starts he's best faceoff guy in all zones of the ice at home and away games. Knowing he'll be the guy whom Yeo can put out there in every crucial time at game, gives me chills.

Just look this faceoff stats.

Faceoff specialist are IMO bit underrated these days, note how big difference they are when you have powerplay/shorthanded time or let say last faceoffs at game at o/d-zones. Its such a big advance in your team have that kind of guy in your team. Huge advance.

Both Bozak and O'Reilly will help The Blues in faceoff %, and Bozak could end up doing it from both 3rd Line centre, and 3rd Line RW, if Thomas eventually takes over at 3rd Line centre. With Schenn also decent in the circle, that's good flexibility to handle faceoffs on all lines, both on offence and defence,(e.g. in all zones).

 

[Dbrownss]

You know ROR and Bozak can help Schenn and Thomas with their FO ability. Schenn wasnt too bad to begin with and Thomas looked alot better this year in the OHL. Safe bet well go from one of the worst to top 5

 

[PizzaPietrangelo]

Ryan O'Reilly on the transformed St. Louis Blues: 'A Stanley Cup is possible'

I just came across this article in The Hockey News and thought that I would add it here since I didn't see it referenced anywhere else on this forum.

I'm just as stoked as anyone else about adding ROR to the team, and I have definitely heard a variety of comments from him in interviews, articles, etc. that reveal his passion for the game and his optimism for the coming season with the 'Note. Case in point from this article:

"A Stanley Cup is possible,” O’Reilly said earlier this week at the BioSteel Pro Hockey Camp in Toronto. “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s definitely possible.”​

All that said, and at the risk of angering some of the most optimistic ROR fans on this board, is anyone else a little concerned about some of O'Reilly's comments, whether in Buffalo prior to or in St. Louis after the trade? I do think that his end-of-season comments in Buffalo may have been blown out of proportion, but one quotation from this article puzzled me a little bit:

"I just said the reason I don’t think I played the best hockey I could is we were losing and, as I said, I felt like I didn’t want to come in and come to the rink. It was tough."
​

I suppose that I take issue most with the statement where he says that he "didn't want to come in and come to the rink," and I do proactively admit that it's a little silly for me to be nitpicking ROR's comments before the season even begins. I fully understand that every player wants to be in a winning culture but I feel like a lot of the best leaders know that disappointing stretches are inevitable. Hopefully a new team and a new locker room will help ROR to become less frustrated by losses that inevitably come.

Or, more hopefully, maybe ROR's intolerance of losing will power the Blues to a 82-0 season in 2018-19!!

 

[DatDude44]

I really do believe that this will be a great trade for both teams. Tage has looked phenomenal since he's arrived in Buffalo to the point where people are asking how the heck did STL get rid of this guy(then i explain how we have thomas, kyrou, bokk and kostin lol), as well as the hopeful late 1st.

And obviously RoR is a legitimate two way top center in the realm of a patrice bergeron on top of the other new guys and fabbri coming back so we're giving ourselves the best chance we can for a cup.

I could easily see tage being a 30 goal scorer on a line with eichel or mittelstadt for years and i could also see ROR hoisting that cup over his head in a blue note. Could really be a win-win deal.



or, tage could not transfer his abilities to the nhl level and we win this trade by a landslide

 

[Brian39]

Ryan O'Reilly on the transformed St. Louis Blues: 'A Stanley Cup is possible'

I just came across this article in The Hockey News and thought that I would add it here since I didn't see it referenced anywhere else on this forum.

I'm just as stoked as anyone else about adding ROR to the team, and I have definitely heard a variety of comments from him in interviews, articles, etc. that reveal his passion for the game and his optimism for the coming season with the 'Note. Case in point from this article:

"A Stanley Cup is possible,” O’Reilly said earlier this week at the BioSteel Pro Hockey Camp in Toronto. “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s definitely possible.”​

All that said, and at the risk of angering some of the most optimistic ROR fans on this board, is anyone else a little concerned about some of O'Reilly's comments, whether in Buffalo prior to or in St. Louis after the trade? I do think that his end-of-season comments in Buffalo may have been blown out of proportion, but one quotation from this article puzzled me a little bit:

"I just said the reason I don’t think I played the best hockey I could is we were losing and, as I said, I felt like I didn’t want to come in and come to the rink. It was tough."
​

I suppose that I take issue most with the statement where he says that he "didn't want to come in and come to the rink," and I do proactively admit that it's a little silly for me to be nitpicking ROR's comments before the season even begins. I fully understand that every player wants to be in a winning culture but I feel like a lot of the best leaders know that disappointing stretches are inevitable. Hopefully a new team and a new locker room will help ROR to become less frustrated by losses that inevitably come.

Or, more hopefully, maybe ROR's intolerance of losing will power the Blues to a 82-0 season in 2018-19!!

I never had any problem with the ROR quote from after the season and I really don't see why anyone does. If his game had gone to hell, I would understand having a problem. But he had a 61 point year (right on pace with his normal season), set an NHL record in faceoff wins, logged just shy of 21 minutes a night and finished 11th in Selke voting. Any "attitude" problems sure as hell didn't translate to the ice.

If it caused a divide in the locker room, how are you upset at the side that is sick of losing? Wouldn't that divide necessarily mean that the other side was fine with the way a last place season was unfolding and annoyed at the guy who is letting yet another last place season effect his mood? If you don't like this quote, are you saying that you want your players to be fine with a 3rd straight season in the gutter?

Losing sucks. Losing for 3 straight years in your mid-twenties has to suck even harder, especially when you are very obviously playing at a high level. I can't say I would have been excited to go to the rink every day if I were him last year. But he sucked it up and brought his A game all season despite that.

 

[PizzaPietrangelo]

I never had any problem with the ROR quote from after the season and I really don't see why anyone does. If his game had gone to hell, I would understand having a problem. But he had a 61 point year (right on pace with his normal season), set an NHL record in faceoff wins, logged just shy of 21 minutes a night and finished 11th in Selke voting. Any "attitude" problems sure as hell didn't translate to the ice.

If it caused a divide in the locker room, how are you upset at the side that is sick of losing? Wouldn't that divide necessarily mean that the other side was fine with the way a last place season was unfolding and annoyed at the guy who is letting yet another last place season effect his mood? If you don't like this quote, are you saying that you want your players to be fine with a 3rd straight season in the gutter?

Losing sucks. Losing for 3 straight years in your mid-twenties has to suck even harder, especially when you are very obviously playing at a high level. I can't say I would have been excited to go to the rink every day if I were him last year. But he sucked it up and brought his A game all season despite that.

Well, I don't disagree with you about O'Reilly being a world-class player, and I certainly don't claim to know whether or not he was good or bad for the Colorado or Buffalo locker rooms. I mostly just wanted to share that article, point out a quote that I thought might spark some offseason discussion and then discuss it.

It's nice to know that you're looking forward to seeing ROR lace up the skates this fall—I am, too!

 

[rumrokh]

Another thing to remember is that most professional athletes are not well-spoken. For all of his understanding of the game, O'Reilly doesn't sound very sharp beyond that. Maybe he is and he's simply not eloquent or he gets nervous in interviews, I can't say. But I think fans tend to examine the meaning behind players' words waaaay beyond what is deserved or even justifiable. In O'Reilly's case, it sounds like he's just being honest about the difficulties and toll of being on a bad team.
I could just as easily say I don't trust the honesty or passion of a player who doesn't feel that way in that situation. So it seems like the examination of his words is more a reaction to the fact that you don't hear players admit that kind of thing very often - something that's far more revealing about fans, media, and the culture around the game than it is about the actual guy beating his head against the wall at his job.

 

[tfriede2]

I really do believe that this will be a great trade for both teams. Tage has looked phenomenal since he's arrived in Buffalo to the point where people are asking how the heck did STL get rid of this guy(then i explain how we have thomas, kyrou, bokk and kostin lol), as well as the hopeful late 1st.

And obviously RoR is a legitimate two way top center in the realm of a patrice bergeron on top of the other new guys and fabbri coming back so we're giving ourselves the best chance we can for a cup.

I could easily see tage being a 30 goal scorer on a line with eichel or mittelstadt for years and i could also see ROR hoisting that cup over his head in a blue note. Could really be a win-win deal.



or, tage could not transfer his abilities to the nhl level and we win this trade by a landslide

Based on what? Has he played in some summer tournaments or something?

 

[DatDude44]

Based on what? Has he played in some summer tournaments or something?

Summer skates and scrimmages up in buffalo. (I’ve watched and heard people talking about him)

He’s been impressive

 

[BlueDream]

Summer skates and scrimmages up in buffalo. (I’ve watched and heard people talking about him)

He’s been impressive

That means absolutely nothing. A summer skate where people are giving half effort and just keeping their legs fresh? Any NHL player is going to look "good." And I'm not saying this just because we traded him. This goes for any player. Somebody could tell me that Robby Fabbri dominated a scrimmage in Toronto this Summer and I wouldn't even know what that meant because you don't know who the competition is or anything like that. Until they show up to actual Training Camp and look impressive there, the "Summer scrimmages" are things that are pretty much impossible to base opinions on.

And FWIW I did a quick search of Thompson on Twitter and other means and didn't find a single thing about it. So feel free to share anyone credible that has some updates about him.

Anyways, re: O'Reilly's quotes. His own (former) GM, Jason Botterill, even admitted that he had no issue with what ROR said and added that he believes there were plenty of others that felt the same as him, but the only difference is they didn't voice it out loud. His quote about being tired of losing is such a low concern of mine it's incredible. I'm as concerned about that quote as I am about what color socks O'Reilly is wearing today. And I'm being serious.

 

[tfriede2]

That means absolutely nothing. A summer skate where people are giving half effort and just keeping their legs fresh? Any NHL player is going to look "good." And I'm not saying this just because we traded him. This goes for any player. Somebody could tell me that Robby Fabbri dominated a scrimmage in Toronto this Summer and I wouldn't even know what that meant because you don't know who the competition is or anything like that. Until they show up to actual Training Camp and look impressive there, the "Summer scrimmages" are things that are pretty much impossible to base opinions on.

And FWIW I did a quick search of Thompson on Twitter and other means and didn't find a single thing about it. So feel free to share anyone credible that has some updates about him.

Anyways, re: O'Reilly's quotes. His own (former) GM, Jason Botterill, even admitted that he had no issue with what ROR said and added that he believes there were plenty of others that felt the same as him, but the only difference is they didn't voice it out loud. His quote about being tired of losing is such a low concern of mine it's incredible. I'm as concerned about that quote as I am about what color socks O'Reilly is wearing today. And I'm being serious.

Agreed, I remember folks here (or other forums) predicting a breakout from Jaskin and 20+ goals based on how he looked over the summer and in preseason...I don’t doubt Thompson has looked great, but we’ll see how it translates when it counts...he’s got the tools.

 

[Xerloris]

Ryan O'Reilly on the transformed St. Louis Blues: 'A Stanley Cup is possible'

I just came across this article in The Hockey News and thought that I would add it here since I didn't see it referenced anywhere else on this forum.

I'm just as stoked as anyone else about adding ROR to the team, and I have definitely heard a variety of comments from him in interviews, articles, etc. that reveal his passion for the game and his optimism for the coming season with the 'Note. Case in point from this article:

"A Stanley Cup is possible,” O’Reilly said earlier this week at the BioSteel Pro Hockey Camp in Toronto. “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s definitely possible.”​

All that said, and at the risk of angering some of the most optimistic ROR fans on this board, is anyone else a little concerned about some of O'Reilly's comments, whether in Buffalo prior to or in St. Louis after the trade? I do think that his end-of-season comments in Buffalo may have been blown out of proportion, but one quotation from this article puzzled me a little bit:

"I just said the reason I don’t think I played the best hockey I could is we were losing and, as I said, I felt like I didn’t want to come in and come to the rink. It was tough."
​

I suppose that I take issue most with the statement where he says that he "didn't want to come in and come to the rink," and I do proactively admit that it's a little silly for me to be nitpicking ROR's comments before the season even begins. I fully understand that every player wants to be in a winning culture but I feel like a lot of the best leaders know that disappointing stretches are inevitable. Hopefully a new team and a new locker room will help ROR to become less frustrated by losses that inevitably come.

Or, more hopefully, maybe ROR's intolerance of losing will power the Blues to a 82-0 season in 2018-19!!

I wouldn't worry about it. We don't know what the locker room in Buffalo was like or what other situations had to do with anything. I do seem to recall RoR saying that no one cared anymore and TBH, professional or not if no one else on the team gives a shit then why should you? This isn't the NBA where one player can carry a team.

 

[Brian39]

I will say, I do have concerns about ROR's character that are not related to that quote. I'm concerned about the facts surrounding his truck hitting a building around 4 am in 2015 and what that means for his off-ice character. I completely understand why the case was dropped. DUIs are extremely difficult to prove when the vehicle leaves the scene, is parked somewhere and then abandoned. But I am also aware that there is a difference in the burden of proof in a criminal proceeding and the court of public opinion. I don't buy that ROR was in no way involved with his vintage truck being involved in a hit and run at 4 am and that he also just happened to be walking around that neighborhood under the influence of alcohol shortly after police found his truck.

It's not enough for me to hate the man or the player. People make mistakes and if I carried ill-will towards everyone who was involved in misdemeanor offenses, I just wouldn't be able to effectively do my job. But it does cause me to question his character.

 

[BleedBlue14]

I will say, I do have concerns about ROR's character that are not related to that quote. I'm concerned about the facts surrounding his truck hitting a building around 4 am in 2015 and what that means for his off-ice character. I completely understand why the case was dropped. DUIs are extremely difficult to prove when the vehicle leaves the scene, is parked somewhere and then abandoned. But I am also aware that there is a difference in the burden of proof in a criminal proceeding and the court of public opinion. I don't buy that ROR was in no way involved with his vintage truck being involved in a hit and run at 4 am and that he also just happened to be walking around that neighborhood under the influence of alcohol shortly after police found his truck.

It's not enough for me to hate the man or the player. People make mistakes and if I carried ill-will towards everyone who was involved in misdemeanor offenses, I just wouldn't be able to effectively do my job. But it does cause me to question his character.

Agreed, I do really hope that it was a wake up call or a bring back down to earth moment. A young kid being given that much money and presumably the keys to a franchise almost assuredly made him feel invincible in a sense.

That being said, this is part of the issue I think that happened within the Buffalo locker room. I would imagine O’Reilly thought that he was supposed to be the face of the franchise, but Buffalo drafted a young kid to be the face of the franchise. Which almost assuredly led to animosity. Granted this is all speculation. I do hope that he knows he is a cog in the machine here and is not being brought in to be the face of the franchise. I will say though, if he had this mentality in Buffalo truly, his on ice play was not affected by it at all.

 

[PiggySmalls]

I will say, I do have concerns about ROR's character that are not related to that quote. I'm concerned about the facts surrounding his truck hitting a building around 4 am in 2015 and what that means for his off-ice character. I completely understand why the case was dropped. DUIs are extremely difficult to prove when the vehicle leaves the scene, is parked somewhere and then abandoned. But I am also aware that there is a difference in the burden of proof in a criminal proceeding and the court of public opinion. I don't buy that ROR was in no way involved with his vintage truck being involved in a hit and run at 4 am and that he also just happened to be walking around that neighborhood under the influence of alcohol shortly after police found his truck.

It's not enough for me to hate the man or the player. People make mistakes and if I carried ill-will towards everyone who was involved in misdemeanor offenses, I just wouldn't be able to effectively do my job. But it does cause me to question his character.

Your concerns are justifiable, I will say this all happened before getting married and having a child. I can only hope that the birth of his son has adjusted his point of view and decision making.