You realize a good portion of his TOI goes to the PK while a lot of the other forwards in the top 30 in TOI are primarily offensive forwards right? Why the heck should he have a problem scoring 60 if he's healthy all season on the Blues he gets to play with much better defenseman and wingers than he had last season and probably won't be heavily relied as he was in Buffalo to take every face-off since LITERALLY no one else on the Sabres depth chart can be depended on to win one. You could argue the same garbage about Risto since his numbers aren't that well compared to other defenseman in his TOI yet he was top 5 in the league.
Funny he's the only Sabre that's even inched towards an award in ages don't care if its Lady Byng but its something and not taking penalties means he rarely ever put a team in a bad situation since he didn't leave us shorthanded. People who like to talk crap about him now didn't have much to say negative about him before because you would maybe see him have a bad giveaway every quarter of the season.
I don't understand about ROR's offensive production being easy to replace...we replaced him with Patrik Berglund as of now who hasn't hit 40 points since forever and from a perspective standpoint isn't even the same stratosphere as Ryan as a passer and can only be relied on to score goals which he isn't better than O'Reily at either and is in his 30s while the other is 27. We already had Casey in the picture which could of been part of one of the best center trios in the league. On top of Berglund missed a quarter of the season last year so that might be an issues as well.
Players in the NHL voted him as one of the most underrated players meaning they had a hard time playing against him considering the other guys listed were Barkov, Backstrom who are other defensive centers that give opposing teams a hard time all the time too.
Player polls are pretty meaningless. They include major ignorance and bias, case in point when these 20 something millionaires are asked what cities would they hate to play in and Buffalo is always on those lists...then the majority of good decent folk who played hockey here professionally fall in love with the place and never leave. For such a "dump" it's ironic we have Scotty Bowman and Marcel Dionne living/lived here for ages. Pretty sure Darryl Sittler too.
And RoR wasn't replaced by Patrick Berglund. RoR is being replaced by increased minutes for Jack and then Casey or Sam getting thrust into the 2C role likely getting 18 mins a game. As for awards, the Lady Byng is probably the most worthless award in hockey. Might as well just give it to the guy who played the most games with the fewest PIMs. And anyway we literally had a Vezina and Calder winner in 2010.
As for the ages of RoR and Berglund....RoR turns 28 in February. Berglund just literally turned 30. The difference in age between RoR and Berglund is literally half the difference in age between RoR and Eichel. Which is the main point in the trade. Botts isn't dumb. He knows RoR is a mediocre skater and in his first two seasons here he missed 10% of the possible games. Granted he only missed one game this year but he was dinged up constantly, never got in a good groove and was wildly inconsistent and had his worst year out of 3 this past season. Botts knew that if he kept RoR and he ended up getting a major injury or ended up having a disasterous type season where say he misses 15-20 games and puts up something like 15-25-40 in 65 games. Yeah, decent #s but not for a player making $7.5 mil who plays over 21 mins a game. If one of those scenarios that I listed ended up occurring then instead of TT,1st, 2nd and two high end third liners we would be lucky to get half of that package and would likely have to retain.
The NHL has literally become a what have you done for me lately type league. The RoR experiment failed. Luckily we have a competent GM at the helm and he was able to recoup every asset this previous GM gave up for RoR and then some. And going back to the ice time question....yes Berglund hasn't scored 40 points in several years....but that's fine because most of RoRs points come from the PP, especially his goals. It's funny you say that RoR is clearly a better goal scorer then Berglund when that is patently false. In fact they are actually nearly identical in goal scoring, but when you factor in the fact that Berglund gets his goals scored in far far less ice time (far higher goals per 60) and that he is a far superior esg scorer and it's far closer then people think. I already posted this prior but I'll post it again.
Ryan O'Reilly career goals per game...... .24
Patrik Berglund career goals per game.... .24
Wow, would you look at that. The legit franchise 1C has literally the same exact career GPG as the garbage 3rd line cap dump. And before anyone tries to say that the numbers are skewed due to Berglund peaking several years ago would be wrong again.
Since RoR became a Sabre...
RoR 2015-2018. 224 games played, 65 goals. 32 goals at ES. Yes, RoR managed to score less then half as many esg as special teams goals. RoR GPG last 3 years .29
Berglund 2015-2018. 181 games played, 50 goals. 38 goals at ES. So yeah, in the same time frame Berglund ended up scoring 6 more esg in 43 less games. Oh and in each and every season RoR played anywhere to 5-6 mins a GAME more in ice time on average. Berglund GPG past 3 years .28
So when we actually go past the surface we find out that Berglund and RoR are literally identical in goal scoring. Past 3 years RoR GPG was literally .01 better. For their entire careers they have an identical career GPG. Only difference is that Berglund actually scores the majority of his goals at ES. At the end of the day, RoRs goal production is going to literally be replaced directly by Berglund. But when you factor in that Berglund scores identical amount of goals by average in 5-6 mins less a game you would have to distribute that ice time to our other high end players which results in more goals over all by the team.
And before anyone is putting words in my mouth saying that Berglund = RoR that is NOT true. RoR is clearly a better overall hockey player. But at the end of the day, RoR averages 53p/82gp for his career. Berglund is at 38p/82gp but their goal scoring is literally identical. RoR has never hit 40 assists, 30 goals or 65 points. For getting 21+ mins a game that's pretty underwhelming.
So to recap, the "cap dump" Berglund literally makes a little more then half of RoR but will literally match the goal scoring exactly and will score far more 5v5 which is the biggest weakness. RoR is definitely a better two way player but it's time to stop mentioning Bergeron and RoR. Bergeron is so much better it isn't funny. The funny thing is is that Berglund isn't even the first or second or possibly even third best asset out of the deal. TT and the 2019 1st and the 2021 2nd was the prized possession we coveted. Our competent GM didn't take any "cap dumps", he took in 2 high end third liners who are quality vets. Botts is a f***ing genius. In one move he saves $7.5 mil bonus that he made the Blues pay, removed a player who has caused issues everywhere he played (this is a guy who was drunk off his ass driving a truck packed with people, crashes into Tim Hortons, everyone bails and RoR is picked up walking down the street a bit later and still was over the legal limit) he acquired Berglund who will literally match RoRs goal totals, Sobotka will be a mean Son of a gun to play against and will give us a much needed edge and is a giant upgrade over Girgs and Larsson.
Then when we factor in the essential 2 1st round picks (the 2019 1st and TT who is still a very good young player) and another 2nd and Botts not only made us deeper overall but replenished the cupboards. As the days keep passing I am loving the trade more and more.
With this trade we are now a better overall team.
Berglund,Sobotka,TT>RoR+Girgs/Larsson+Bailey/Baptiste especially when you factor in that RoRs ice time difference between him and Berglund will be going to our superstar forward and budding star center in Mitts.
I am very confident that TT will put up 10-15 goals this season. Berglund will match the ~20-25 goals or goal pace that RoR will put up and Sobotka and TT will outscore Girgs and Larsson by so much that it will totally skew the trade in our favor. Vlad Sobotka, another "garbage overpaid cap dump" scored literally one less point then Girgs and Johan combined.
GO SABRES!!!
(Edit: I also want to clarify that even though I feel we are a better team now then we were a few days before the draft that the Blues should also be real happy with the trade. RoR can come in and slot in as the 2C behind Schenn, and they kept their best prospect. Luckily I preferred TT well over Kyrou. TT was the first rounder and has already played his rookie campaign and at the very least will be a lock to be a decent middle six guy as his floor. Ceiling wise I think he can become a 30 goal winger for either Jack, Sam or Casey. That shot TT has is just salivating. I can't wait for Eichel to skate circles around players this year and finally have a couple guys who can cash in the glorious easy goals Jack creates nearly every single game that his garbage teammates whiff or flub. And I am very weary of any CHL prospect who tears up the regular season and then is an absolute ghost in the playoffs (ironic considering the drafting team). Kyrou putting up 4 points in 12 playoff games after putting up nearly 2 ppg in the regular season just to see him put up a .33 ppg in the playoffs as a 19/20 year old in the O finishing TENTH on his team in playoff scoring, like I said, no thanks I'll take the guy who already has NHL experience, has the pedigree and was the first round pick. Blues will be happy to get RoR after Stastny spurned them and they will get 50-55 points out of him if he gets 18-19 mins a game. The days of him scoring 60 are pretty much over unless he's force fed 21 mins a game)
