Confirmed with Link: ROR traded to STL

[Thallis]

No he was a healthy scratch.

Sabres Notebook: Patrik Berglund takes a seat

The coach says he's injured. The journalist is assuming that him practicing means he's lying for some reason.

 

[BlueDream]

Sabres Notebook: Patrik Berglund takes a seat

The coach says he's injured. The journalist is assuming that him practicing means he's lying for some reason.

Housley’s quote by no means says he’s injured. Basically says they wanted to get a different look since they lost the game. That’s a scratch.

 

[Thallis]

Housley’s quote by no means says he’s injured. Basically says they wanted to get a different look since they lost the game. That’s a scratch.

"He's dealing with some bumps and bruises" sounds like an injury to me.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Man there are some really bitter Sabre fans about Ryan O'Reilly. There's a group of them more bitter about him than Philly was with Schenn which I didn't think was possible.

 

[Punished ROR]

Man there are some really bitter Sabre fans about Ryan O'Reilly. There's a group of them more bitter about him than Philly was with Schenn which I didn't think was possible.

Yup. Dare I say even more bitter and butt hurt than Colorado fans were? Avs fans stuck to making jokes like “greedy Ryan O’MoneyBags McRubles lololol” and took on a bizarre obsession with Brian, Ryan’s father ... but the mad fans in Buffalo have constructed an elaborate conspiracy theory that ROR was a locker room cancer who dragged everyone down with his mopey personality, being a hipster alcoholic vegan, and saying “I need to be better” in media scrums after a loss.

And who could ever forget the day he said he lost his love of the game?!?!

Also the Sabres are doing marginally better this year solely because ROR is off the team, and not at all in part due to finally adding some badly needed talent in Dahlin, Skinner, Mittelstadt and Sheary.

I thought I’d keep following Buffalo after the trade, but at this point f*** ‘em, I hope the curse continues.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Yup. Dare I say even more bitter and butt hurt than Colorado fans were? Avs fans stuck to making jokes like “greedy Ryan O’MoneyBags McRubles lololol” and took on a bizarre obsession with Brian, Ryan’s father ... but the mad fans in Buffalo have constructed an elaborate conspiracy theory that ROR was a locker room cancer who dragged everyone down with his mopey personality, being a hipster alcoholic vegan, and saying “I need to be better” in media scrums after a loss.

And who could ever forget the day he said he lost his love of the game?!?!

Also the Sabres are doing marginally better this year solely because ROR is off the team, and not at all in part due to finally adding some badly needed talent in Dahlin, Skinner, Mittelstadt and Sheary.

I thought I’d keep following Buffalo after the trade, but at this point **** ‘em, I hope the curse continues.

Yeah i could understand the anger in Avs fans to a point, but I don't quite understand the vitriol from Buffalo. If there was a locker room cancer, I'd have thought it would have been Evander Kane.

I don't really have anything for or against Buffalo (outside of Ryan Miller). I don't think the trade will pay off for them but I can't say I'm rooting for it to fail.

I don't buy that they were really all that hot on Tage Thompson. I think their bluff got called when Army signed Bozak and they're trying to save face.

If they were....well then I just sort of wonder why.

They definitely get full marks for adding Skinner though. Excellent move there.

 

[Snippit]

Yup. Dare I say even more bitter and butt hurt than Colorado fans were? Avs fans stuck to making jokes like “greedy Ryan O’MoneyBags McRubles lololol” and took on a bizarre obsession with Brian, Ryan’s father ... but the mad fans in Buffalo have constructed an elaborate conspiracy theory that ROR was a locker room cancer who dragged everyone down with his mopey personality, being a hipster alcoholic vegan, and saying “I need to be better” in media scrums after a loss.

And who could ever forget the day he said he lost his love of the game?!?!

Also the Sabres are doing marginally better this year solely because ROR is off the team, and not at all in part due to finally adding some badly needed talent in Dahlin, Skinner, Mittelstadt and Sheary.

I thought I’d keep following Buffalo after the trade, but at this point **** ‘em, I hope the curse continues.

Just dropping in to say that there are Buffalo fans who recognize that the "ROR is a cancer narrative" is most likely false. Actually, I'd say >60-65% of us on the Sabres board still hate the trade.

Would also like to say that Berglund and Sobotka have been nothing to write home about (Sobotka has been statistically our worst forward), and that Thompson doesn't look like he's ready for the NHL.

Cheers.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

My favorite part with Buffalo is them thinking ROR and Eichel had beef with each other. Jack was on Spittin Chiclets recently and said they were super close friends and they stirred up the pot on purpose by not high fiving each other on goals.

 

[BlueDream]

Most Buffalo fans seem level headed IMO.

There’s always going to be fans in every fan base that stir up stuff after trades. We have some as well. So whatever.

For the most part us and Buffalo are in the same boat as far as cup droughts go.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Yup. Dare I say even more bitter and butt hurt than Colorado fans were? Avs fans stuck to making jokes like “greedy Ryan O’MoneyBags McRubles lololol” and took on a bizarre obsession with Brian, Ryan’s father ... but the mad fans in Buffalo have constructed an elaborate conspiracy theory that ROR was a locker room cancer who dragged everyone down with his mopey personality, being a hipster alcoholic vegan, and saying “I need to be better” in media scrums after a loss.

And who could ever forget the day he said he lost his love of the game?!?!

Also the Sabres are doing marginally better this year solely because ROR is off the team, and not at all in part due to finally adding some badly needed talent in Dahlin, Skinner, Mittelstadt and Sheary.

I thought I’d keep following Buffalo after the trade, but at this point **** ‘em, I hope the curse continues.

There are like one or two Sabres posters doing any of that but ok.

About half seem to hate the trade and think the cancer talk is silly, and the other half think it was a decent hockey trade, albeit underwhelming, and that something just wasn’t working out with ROR and the Sabres.

I haven’t seen any concocted stories akin to your post...

 

[Blueston]

Sometimes things get stale and player needs fresh start, even if they are basically a good guy. No reason to believe ROR is really a cancer. But he was clearly frustrated and Sabres aren't necessarily wrong to think they are better off long term clearing deck for Eichel to take over as captain and give ROR fresh start elsewhere. Blues were smart to pick him up at discounted rate. The ROR trade is in some ways akin to the Oshie trade, except we are on better side this time.

 

[Punished ROR]

There are like one or two Sabres posters doing any of that but ok.

About half seem to hate the trade and think the cancer talk is silly, and the other half think it was a decent hockey trade, albeit underwhelming, and that something just wasn’t working out with ROR and the Sabres.

I haven’t seen any concocted stories akin to your post...

I should have specified that not all Buffalo fans are acting like that, though I do think it's a lot more than one or two posters; in fact, these anti-ROR sentiments aren't just springing up from a couple of loony HFBoards posters. It's coming from the Sabres front office itself. You've got Housley making overtures about how the attitude in the room is different this year (see his "woe is me" quote on WGR). A week prior to that interview, John Vogl uses the same language ("[The ROR trade] was a move that had to be made. Too many people got sucked into ROR's 'woe is me' vortex.")

Coincidence? Don't think so. Considering where the media gets their info, it's not hard to see where the narrative is coming from: Botts and Housley have effectively pinned last year's failure on ROR's shoulders. The media has dutifully run with that angle, and a large segment of the fanbase has adopted that narrative as their own. Considering the trouble Kane got into while he was in BUF, and Lehner's now-documented troubles, it's a pretty amazing feat to blame last year on a guy who still put up 60 points while slogging through one of the worst usage roles I've ever seen a player put in.

Not sure what you mean by "concocted stories akin to your post." If you never saw examples of what I'm talking about, you weren't following closely enough. And I'm not just a visitor dropping in on the Sabres board to form that opinion, BTW. Check my post history -- I became a Sabres fan when ROR arrived in Buffalo, and a Blues fan when he left. Sure, I'm biased but I'm not just making stuff up.

I'll admit the last line of my post was too far, though. Seeing some Sabres fans rooting for ROR to fail in STL and suggesting the Blues are off to a bad start because of his supposedly cancerous presence set me off. But I shouldn't let a few idiot fans and members of the media spoil it for the rest of you -- you guys do deserve success, especially after all the suffering. Just so tired of the ol' "kick the guy as he heads out the door" routine.

 

[bleedblue1223]

This is all so silly. It's classic case of bash your ex after the breakup. Who cares if the other side is better or worse off, just move on. Buffalo decided it wasn't working, and ROR has so far been a great fit. Judging team success for either side so early on is just dumb on so many levels.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I should have specified that not all Buffalo fans are acting like that, though I do think it's a lot more than one or two posters; in fact, these anti-ROR sentiments aren't just springing up from a couple of loony HFBoards posters. It's coming from the Sabres front office itself. You've got Housley making overtures about how the attitude in the room is different this year (see his "woe is me" quote on WGR). A week prior to that interview, John Vogl uses the same language ("[The ROR trade] was a move that had to be made. Too many people got sucked into ROR's 'woe is me' vortex.")

Coincidence? Don't think so. Considering where the media gets their info, it's not hard to see where the narrative is coming from: Botts and Housley have effectively pinned last year's failure on ROR's shoulders. The media has dutifully run with that angle, and a large segment of the fanbase has adopted that narrative as their own. Considering the trouble Kane got into while he was in BUF, and Lehner's now-documented troubles, it's a pretty amazing feat to blame last year on a guy who still put up 60 points while slogging through one of the worst usage roles I've ever seen a player put in.

Not sure what you mean by "concocted stories akin to your post." If you never saw examples of what I'm talking about, you weren't following closely enough. And I'm not just a visitor dropping in on the Sabres board to form that opinion, BTW. Check my post history -- I became a Sabres fan when ROR arrived in Buffalo, and a Blues fan when he left. Sure, I'm biased but I'm not just making stuff up.

I'll admit the last line of my post was too far, though. Seeing some Sabres fans rooting for ROR to fail in STL and suggesting the Blues are off to a bad start because of his supposedly cancerous presence set me off. But I shouldn't let a few idiot fans and members of the media spoil it for the rest of you -- you guys do deserve success, especially after all the suffering. Just so tired of the ol' "kick the guy as he heads out the door" routine.

I won’t argue with you since it’s your board but I do agree with your overall point for sure and dislike people doing that too. I don’t think it’s as widespread as you think but fair enough. Enjoy ROR!

 

[PiggySmalls]

10 points in 8 games. I’ll take it, Army turned water into wine with this trade.

 

[phxblue]

10 points in 8 games. I’ll take it, Army turned water into wine with this trade.

He's also been phenominal at the little things. You could make a highlight reel of his plays before the scoring chance. Takeaways, corner work, etc.

 

[TheDizee]

its a shame schwartz has been a ghost and tarasenko isnt really playing like he could. its a reason why we are where we are too, blues always seem to fail to add on when they have a 3rd period lead.

 

[Member 308457]

Buffalo fan here. Our team just got through coming in dead last in the NHL 3 out of the last 5 years. Buffalo has been a respectable team for most of its history, especially for a small market, going to the finals twice (but losing). In comes the new owner Pegula, who made his fortune in fracking, promising a Cup and acquiring all these expensive free agents like they were toys. They didn't produce as advertised and the team fell apart. They fell to the very bottom for an extended time. The arena became a morgue. It was very miserable for a long, long time.

O'Reilly was part of this pattern. The first thing he did after signing a massive contract was to drunkenly crash into a Tim Horton's. This was embarrassing not only to him, but the fans. Maybe he felt he made a mistake despite the megabucks. As the team's losses mounted, guys like O'Reilly became disgruntled. I guess I don't blame him for hating the experience while going through it, but he was supposed to be one of the Sabres leaders and despite the 25 goals and 30-35 assists per year, many fans saw his consistently depressing post-game interviews and became sick of him. I'm not sure you can search for these interviews but game after game, his in particular were grating, then irritating, then downright unwatchable.

It was a depressing time to be a Sabres fan while O'Reilly was a mainstay. Maybe he was skapegoated and jettisoned as is common in sports but you have to understand that watching an entire team score 150 goals a year several years in a row is a very depressing experience which only now the Sabres seem to be getting out of.

Good luck with him...he seems to be responding to the Blues as if he has a new life and that must be energizing for him. Can't say that I liked him as one of ours, but now that he's in new surroundings, I wish him success.

That said, maybe there's a sports curse on the blue/yellow color scheme.

 

[HaNotsri]

its a shame schwartz has been a ghost and tarasenko isnt really playing like he could. its a reason why we are where we are too, blues always seem to fail to add on when they have a 3rd period lead.

You should trade Tarasenko to us for Berglund, Sobotka, Thompson and a conditional 1st.
Then play Berglund in Tarasenkos role.

 

[GellMann]

Yup. Dare I say even more bitter and butt hurt than Colorado fans were? Avs fans stuck to making jokes like “greedy Ryan O’MoneyBags McRubles lololol” and took on a bizarre obsession with Brian, Ryan’s father ... but the mad fans in Buffalo have constructed an elaborate conspiracy theory that ROR was a locker room cancer who dragged everyone down with his mopey personality, being a hipster alcoholic vegan, and saying “I need to be better” in media scrums after a loss.

And who could ever forget the day he said he lost his love of the game?!?!

Also the Sabres are doing marginally better this year solely because ROR is off the team, and not at all in part due to finally adding some badly needed talent in Dahlin, Skinner, Mittelstadt and Sheary.

I thought I’d keep following Buffalo after the trade, but at this point **** ‘em, I hope the curse continues.

It doesn't help when "respected" members of our media like Vogl constantly parrot the organizational talking point of "kulture," routinely writing about how much "happier" the Sabres are, and riding that one ROR quote to death despite never even mentioning the much more serious and sobering case of Robin Lehner in that same dressing room.

It's a joke. This trade has nothing to do with our improvement through the first 9 games this year, in fact, if we'd done everything else the same but not traded ROR we're probably sitting a game or two better in the standings already, because our center depth is now a freaking joke.

 

[Stealth JD]

I feel bad for ROR...he doesn't deserve this shitshow. Would be a real kick in the nuts for his new team to be picking top-5 next summer.

 

[Punished ROR]

Here’s a good interview with ROR on 31 Thoughts podcast if you haven’t already seen/heard it.

 

[Celtic Note]

Here’s a good interview with ROR on 31 Thoughts podcast if you haven’t already seen/heard it.

Thanks for sharing this interview. It’s fantastic! I highly recommend it.

Players - and just people in general - that make their wholistic/comprehensive tendencies a natural part of their career are those I look up to. You can tell Ryan is focused and well thought in his approach to the game. It makes him so much better than his skill level. Backes was similar.

His training with his dad is actually ingenious. Pretty cool stuff.

Hopefully he inspires our players.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

O’Reilly has turned into one of my favorite players in just 9 games.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

If I was a bigger dick, I’d bump that thread with the dude arguing that Berglund/Thompson/Sobotka would outscore O’Reilly by himself as if 3 players outscoring one was a big accomplishment.

O’Reilly is my favorite player and it’s not particularly close. I’ll be owning a #90 jersey someday soon.