It's been over seven years since the Sabres traded Ryan O’Reilly to the Blues, and Sabres fans have questioned it ever since. O’Reilly was traded for Tage Thompson, a top-10 protected 2019 first-round pick, a 2021 second-round pick, Vladimir Sobotka, and Patrik Berglund.
O’Reilly was exactly what the Blues needed as he won the Selke the following season, and helped the Blues to their first ever Stanley Cup. The Blues trade had immediately paid off; meanwhile, the Sabres had to wait for theirs.
Berglund and Sobotka were solid players for the Blues. However, once they got to the Sabres, their success went away. Berglund played just 23 games in Buffalo before he decided to go back home to Sweden to play in the SHL. Sobotka played 85 games for the Sabres and recorded 16 points before he left and signed with SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in Switzerland.
With the Blues' 2019 first-round pick, the Sabres selected defenceman Ryan Johnson. Johnson has bounced up and down from the NHL and AHL, but recently re-signed in hopes of making the main roster. Their fifth-round pick was used to rent defenseman Colin Miller, but nothing more. Then they struck gold and got a young prospect named Tage Thompson.
Since joining the Sabres, Thompson has been legit. He almost hit 100 points a few seasons back, and has 168 goals since joining the Sabres. Buffalo should feel relieved they got a star out of Thompson, who hopefully won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
As for Ryan O’Reilly, if he stayed in Buffalo, I don’t think his career would change much, in my opinion. He has been a consistent 50-70 point guy per season since 2013. He was named an all-star twice since leaving Buffalo, but easily could have gotten that with the Sabres, considering how bad their teams were.
The only difference in his career would have been his Selke Award and Conn Smythe Award. If he were playing for a bad team, I don’t see him being selected for the award, and obviously wouldn’t have the Conn Smythe playing Buffalo as well. Being on a top team in St.Louis allowed him to be noticed.
The one difference he could have made for the Sabres would have been a few years ago when they missed the playoffs by one point. Having a player with the caliber O’Reilly possesses would have easily made them a playoff team and ended their long-awaited playoff drought.
The Sabres' trade for Ryan O’Reilly luckily had something good, as they got their franchise star in Tage Thompson. O’Reilly continues to be a solid player at 34 years old, but I think his career path was the right one, and moving on from Buffalo was sadly his best move.