Confirmed Trade: [STL/BUF] Ryan O'Reilly for 2019 1st, 2021 2nd, Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka, and Tage Thompson

[Snippit]

The only way some Buffalo fans can justify trading ROR to St. Louis' for essentially spare parts and a couple lotto tickets is to peddle the narrative that Ryan was a raging locker room cancer who's excessive brooding and dour demeanor was sapping the joy from Buffalo's locker room. It's utter nonsense but a comforting narrative nonetheless.

Bang on.

 

[StreetHawk]

There's basically zero reason for the Blues to be upset with this trade considering what they gave up for him.

Blues needed help at C. With AP and Parayko on D, along with Tarasenko they needed to do something to upgrade that position.

Either you take a very high end all situation C like ROR, but not a #1C scorer, and don’t take away a key element on the roster , or you try to find a team willing to do a Jones for Johansen swap with Parayko.

Given those 2 options I think they made the right move.

But their season lies in the play of Allen.

 

[slip]

On the flip side, thank you St. Louis for Carter Hutton. Dude has been excellent between the pipes.

 

[Foppberg]

Blues needed help at C. With AP and Parayko on D, along with Tarasenko they needed to do something to upgrade that position.

Either you take a very high end all situation C like ROR, but not a #1C scorer, and don’t take away a key element on the roster , or you try to find a team willing to do a Jones for Johansen swap with Parayko.

Given those 2 options I think they made the right move.

But their season lies in the play of Allen.

It boggles me that they didn't pursue Grubauer.

 

[StreetHawk]

It boggles me that they didn't pursue Grubauer.

Given what Colorado offered which was the 46/47th pick in the draft along with taking Orpiks $5 million cap hit, could the Blues have beat that?

The pick was doable but the orpik contract? The blues are right at the cap now.

 

[Foppberg]

Given what Colorado offered which was the 46/47th pick in the draft along with taking Orpiks $5 million cap hit, could the Blues have beat that?

The pick was doable but the orpik contract? The blues are right at the cap now.

True.. I didn't look at their cap situation, they wouldn't have been able to afford a buyout on him?

 

[greasysnapper]

On the flip side, thank you St. Louis for Carter Hutton. Dude has been excellent between the pipes.

You don't think Ullmark's looked better?

 

[TK 421]

It boggles me that they didn't pursue Grubauer.

I thought that was a really shrewd move by Sakic.

Husso is very close and is actually worth leaving room for so I'm not surprised the Blues weren't in on Grubauer. Still have that pesky Allen contract as well so all things considered running with Allen/Johnson while feeding Husso tons of starts in San Antonio is probably the best course.

It's funny because when people talk about Blues prospects Husso is rarely mentioned and yet he's top 5 in the Blues pool without question. AHL rookie goalie of the year last season, several years in Liiga as a starter prior to coming to NA, international experience. He's the reason they felt no pressure re:goaltending and why Johnson only got a 1 year deal. He could easily come in this year if Allen falls apart but he's most definitely an emergency starter candidate that the team hopes they have no need for this season.

 

[DoubleK81]

Given what Colorado offered which was the 46/47th pick in the draft along with taking Orpiks $5 million cap hit, could the Blues have beat that?

The pick was doable but the orpik contract? The blues are right at the cap now.

I'm sure we could have put a package together that would work ( we've been pretty frequent trade partners with WAS in the last few years ), but Allen would still be starting because Armstrong is tied to that horse. Really though, we have Husso coming up and I'm pretty sure management views him as Allens replacement, as early as next year, and didn't see a need to bring in another goalie that would be considered #1. Right or wrong, thats the gist of it.

 

[Foppberg]

I thought that was a really shrewd move by Sakic.

Husso is very close and is actually worth leaving room for so I'm not surprised the Blues weren't in on Grubauer. Still have that pesky Allen contract as well so all things considered running with Allen/Johnson while feeding Husso tons of starts in San Antonio is probably the best course.

It's funny because when people talk about Blues prospects Husso is rarely mentioned and yet he's top 5 in the Blues pool without question. AHL rookie goalie of the year last season, several years in Liiga as a starter prior to coming to NA, international experience. He's the reason they felt no pressure re:goaltending and why Johnson only got a 1 year deal. He could easily come in this year if Allen falls apart but he's most definitely an emergency starter candidate that the team hopes they have no need for this season.

Fair enough, but I think a tandem of Grubauer/Husso would be awesome. Doesn't put too much pressure on Husso, let's him come along at his own pace knowing that you have a legit goaltender to lean on. Sucks for you guys that management is apparently still on the Allen train, good for us though

 

[TK 421]

Fair enough, but I think a tandem of Grubauer/Husso would be awesome. Doesn't put too much pressure on Husso, let's him come along at his own pace knowing that you have a legit goaltender to lean on. Sucks for you guys that management is apparently still on the Allen train, good for us though

Indeed that would have been a sweet combo and yes it's painful watching Allen struggle during the season. It seems Armstrong has shifted organizational philosophy because of having Husso so that can be taken as a positive sign at least.

It's crazy because Armstrong has pulled off some really nice moves in his time here but he shoots himself in the foot with early extensions like Lehtera, Allen and Yeo.

 

[Celtic Note]

Fair enough, but I think a tandem of Grubauer/Husso would be awesome. Doesn't put too much pressure on Husso, let's him come along at his own pace knowing that you have a legit goaltender to lean on. Sucks for you guys that management is apparently still on the Allen train, good for us though

Management is on the Allen train because they really don’t have other options without moving Allen. Are their realistically any takers for him out there?

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

Bang on.

O'Reilly's $7.5 M cap hit reduced his value significantly.

 

[StreetHawk]

True.. I didn't look at their cap situation, they wouldn't have been able to afford a buyout on him?

Orpik was due $4.5 million for the final year of his deal but his cap hit was $5.5 meaning that the Avs by holding his rights has to eat the $1 million extra that the Caps had paid Orpik up to that point in time as dead cap space.

So the Avs take $2.5 million hit this year and $1.5 million next year. They pay him $3 million in total cash.

Doubt the blues are able to do that.

 

[pigpen65]

Opened up room for Skinner? We saved basically no cap for the first 2 years on the ROR trade. We could have brought in Skinner regardless.

This team would look 10x better with ROR right now.

They had ROR last year and didn't look better.

 

[Snippit]

They had ROR last year and didn't look better.

Yes because 1) we have goaltending this year and 2) we brought in scoring wingers and 3) we added Rasmus Dahlin.

We still have a massive hole at 2C.

 

[tsujimoto74]

You don't think Ullmark's looked better?

They're both better than any goalie the Sabres had last year.

 

[threeVo]

Yes because 1) we have goaltending this year and 2) we brought in scoring wingers and 3) we added Rasmus Dahlin.

We still have a massive hole at 2C.

Id rather have Sheary and Skinner and that cap space to extend Skinner if we want instead of ROR going into this season. Hes a good player, but I feel like Thompson and the 1st round pick can end up turning into some nice pieces for us.

 

[Xerloris]

ROR is worth every bit of that 7.5m cap hit. The Blues are very lucky to have gotten him and I would take him over Tavares any day.

 

[is the answer jesus]

O'Reilly's $7.5 M cap hit reduced his value significantly.

I don't see why. He's worth every penny of 7.5 million a year. Now not every team in the NHL could afford to take that cap hit, but the Sabres helped the Blues clear the books so they could. Given that the Sabres were willing to eat that kind of salary in return, the package coming back to Buffalo should have been greater. Ultimately this was a move to shakeup the lockerroom and Botterill wasn't concerned with maximizing the return on O'Reilly. Which to me was a shame, because it just seemed like a witchunt from many in Buffalo the moment he made those relatively benign end of season comments. Whatever though, water under the bridge. I hope O'Reilly does well in St Louis.

 

[Scott Stevens]

The only way some Buffalo fans can justify trading ROR to St. Louis' for essentially spare parts and a couple lotto tickets is to peddle the narrative that Ryan was a raging locker room cancer who's excessive brooding and dour demeanor was sapping the joy from Buffalo's locker room. It's utter nonsense but a comforting narrative nonetheless.

Next time you want to come off as the smartest man in the room try not to mess up stuff like who’s versus whose.

 

[jcbeze]

ROR was a cancer. Better off w/o him

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Opened up room for Skinner? We saved basically no cap for the first 2 years on the ROR trade. We could have brought in Skinner regardless.

This team would look 10x better with ROR right now.

RoR+Skinner = 12.73 mil for 2 players
Skinner+Berglund+Sobotka = 13.08 mil

Add in a Sobotka or Berglund level middle 6 forward, and yes we could not afford both. Unless we went with vet minimum or elcs.

Sabres have done better without RoR the first 1/9th of this season then we ever did in the damn near 250 career games he was Sabre property. The whole team is having fun again and the Locker room has changed into a fun one where players are accountable and they dont repeat the same excuses.

It cannot be stated enough that just removing the toxicity of Robin Lehner and RoR has made the Sabres team as a whole FAR better. It is not a coincidence that RoR has in his 9 year career he has been run out of not one but TWO cities, ex teammates from both teams noted the major change in the locker room without mentioning his name and he makes top 30 player $ (not forward or center but PLAYER. 29th highest AAV and 14th among centers. And RoR is nowhere near a top 30 player in the league, let alone top 30 forward. 14th best center is high, more in the mid 20s).

Again,this does not matter to Blues fans. He will be on good behavior with his new club (or so we hope, he was arrested for drunk driving weeks after signing a 52.5 million dollar contract.) And after 3 years of hearing RoR tell the Media we have to play better and that he has to be accountable it's nice to see him gone and the Sabres do the stuff that RoR said they said they would do under RoR. Which finally started happening this season with RoR gone.

Say what you want. This isnt game 1 or 2. Almost 1/8th of the season is over. Sabres have a winning record, we own 3 1st round picks in the absolutely stunningly loaded 2019 draft and we are finally able to shut down high powered offenses AND score goals.

It is October 21st and we have 5 wins by game 9. Last year it took until November 7th and game #15. Now that is giant improvement. funIt's funny, we finished dead last, get "ripped" off in the RoR trade yet have looked better this season then any other time in the 3 year RoR tenure. Both fanbases are happy aside from the Sabre contingent who were massive RoR fans. Dont say us Sabre and Aves fans that we did not warn you when a year from now after 3 weeks of poor play you will hear every hockey cliche in the book from RoR except he wont actually do it on the ice.


And no, the Sabrea would not look 10x with RoR. Because he is gone we are more of a team and Eichel has taken the next step to become the 2 way superstar center he would not get the chance to be, not if RoR was given 22 mins a night to score minuscule ES goals.

Sabres are better without RoR. Addition by subtraction ainec.

 

[ZZamboni]

Repeated tired mini novels. Yawn.

Detractors can stomp their feet all they want. And close your ears.... you have your opinion.... ROR is a nice asset to have. And any team would love to have a guy who plays like ROR in their team.

 

[Reality Czech]

ROR was a cancer. Better off w/o him

Whatever helps you sleep at night.