"Maybe if you add Thomas, Parayko, and Kyrou"

-some Buffalo fan, in about five minutes, probably

This is probably fair-ish. As a BUF fan I want Bots to absolutely fleece a team in win now mode. I’m more down on Kostin than your average person, but this clears cap and adds a bunch for a BUF to go after Jason Zucker and Berglund can play RORs D minutes. Fine

We're not all that dumb! We'd need Dunn too!

But honestly I need Thomas back in any ROR trade

haha. Man, including Thomas scares the hell out of me. He's our only real center prospect and he's essentially a lock to make the team right now. I'd rather take my chances with him and try to get good production while he's on his ELC, even if it means missing out on ROR. I just think about what would've happened if NYI traded Barzal or if VAN traded Boeser, or TOR traded Marner before they came into the league... scary to think about letting Thomas go without seeing what he's got.

I just can't see them moving thomas or kyrou. I would hope they would take Tage but get that might not be enough. To be honest I think Kostin might be the best of the bunch and including him really scares me, but he's clearly more of an unknown even to the blues compared to thomas/kyrou

Five stars for wanting O'Reilly.
LOL, you forgot to include Barbashyov and Dunn.
This would be a really good offer for O'Reilly, much more than I think the Blues would give up to get O'Reilly. Take out Kostin and I think that is just about the right price, about the same as DATM gave up to get "lost that loving feeling".
Compher is younger for for the imidiate talent about the same as Berglund, P.
Zadorov about the same probably worth more as the 2019 1st round pick (STL)
2015 31st over all is worth more 2020 2nd round pick (STL)
Jamie McGinn maybe worth more than Grigorenko.
Each comparison favors the Blues, but subtract that "loving feeling" and you have a fair trade.
Sorry Buffalo fans you can do your comparisons, but please tell me why is O'Reilly worth more now than 3 years ago. Has he led his team to a championship? Has he lead the Sabres to the finals?, Has a led the Sabres to the playoffs? Has the team digressed the last 2 years? Please start to think on your own, Hoffman's value went way down after his GF did something unthinkable. Evander's value went way down after he was involved in an on ice scuffle. O'Reilly's value should not go up, after telling the world that he did not give it his all during the season.

I think you bring up a bunch of good points. There are always precedents to look at when determining trade value, it's really nice when the player has been traded in the past. There was tension with the Avs that led to him being traded 3 years ago, now there is that same tension in Buffalo. That's the kind of thing that lowers a player's trade value. But even if he didn't lower his value, I'm totally with you on this point - how is he worth more now than he was 3 years ago? His stat-line has stagnated and he hasn't brought the Sabres out of the basement. And he's 3 years older (not good news when you consider forwards peak at 22-25 https://hockey-graphs.com/2017/03/23/a-new-look-at-aging-curves-for-nhl-skaters-part-1/)

I think something like Thompson/Kostin/Foley + Fabbri/Barbashev + 1st is a reasonable expectation. If it was Kyrou or Dunn as the centerpiece, Buffalo should be happy, and if it's Thomas/Parayko, Blues fans will be ripping their eyeballs out.

Exactly, everything you said. I cannot have an intelligent conversation with any Buffalo CF GM about any player on the team. But that being said Thompson/Kostin/Foley + Fabbri + 1st would be a great return. Fabbri is about the same as Zadorov, the 1st about the same as 2015 31st overall, and any of the three about the same as Compher. (presuming Grigorenko equaled McGinn at the time of the trade) A very fair offer.

Want to re-asess that again

Thank you for your comment.
Botterill did very well, much more than I would have imagined.
Kostin IMO is considered more valuable then Thompson by the Blues organization and the Sabres had to take away another contract to get Thompson. So my original comment that a 1st, 2nd and Berglund is reasonably the same, the actually trade is better than what I thought would be a good return. I should add, Berglund and Sobotka are much better than about half of the current Buffalo Sabre forwards so I would imagine Botterill will be happy to have them and not consider them purely cap dumps. I want to add, I thought the trade would take place after midnight and Buffalo would pick up the $7,500,000 bonus which would have added more value to O'Reilly. What do you think?

I was very high on Thomas so that he was my 1st choice. Unfortunately the Blues made it known he wasn't getting traded.
I have been getting lambasted all over reddit for being happy with this trade. Many people are sick of waiting for the playoffs, but this trade is about having a contending team in 2 years, not this year. Both players we got back will be top 9 forwards on this team. Many people don't seem to realize that ROR's value will never be higher than it is right now, so is a season of ROR worth losing that 1st? By the time most of our new core is ready to compete , ROR will be a VERY overpaid 3C. I'm glad GMJB has setup our roster to lose all of the bad contracts by the end of the 19-20 season. nearly 30 million. I also expect Seattle to take okposo off our hands next summer.
I am very pleased with this trade.

I do hope that the 7.5 m we saved in the bonus is put towards improving the off-ice game day experience that is severely lacking at keybank center.

I guess the people in Buffalo never took the time to realize that O'Reilly was a problem in Colorado (https://thehockeywriters.com/ryan-oreilly-colorado-avalanche-trade/). I completely agree with everything you said. A better prospect would have been good but Tage is 6'5" and has not learned how to use his bulk. I know it is wishful thinking but if Tage can learn to use his bulk and reek havoc in front of the net as Reinhart, then Buffalo won the trades easily. There is always the hope that Botterill will be able to move both Sobotka and Berglund before their contracts run out and that will only make this trade that much better.

TBH knowing O'Reilly's history with teams and other players https://www.denverpost.com/2016/01/16/chambers-ryan-oreilly-matt-duchene-pair-not-healthy/ and https://www.foxsports.com/midwest/story/st-louis-blues-acquire-forward-ryan-oreilly-in-massive-trade-with-buffalo-sabres-070118 is the main reason I am so happy he is gone. I hope he finds success in St Louis because he only tore this team apart.