At the time, the 2 cap dumps were borderline cap dumps, and they became cap dumps because they didn't have quality on them, and Berglund had it easy in St.Louis his entire career just lazy in general, Wasn't surprised he left the NHL.

Such an absolutely brutal trade. Botterills gone, no point beating that dead horse anymore. I suppose we could blame the pegulas for insisting that ror be moved before paying the bonus, but since they blew past their self-imposed 70 million dollar cap as soon as they got a chance to sign hall...its just weird i guess.

I agree Berglund was not a pure cap dump.
He had 17 goals his last season with the Blues in only 57 games and 23 the previous full season.
Of course, stories change to suit peoples opinions and this is a perfect example.
Not much was made of this but the Sabres became a dumpster fire right after he left the team.
During the preseason he being called the "Swedish Uncle" by the media.
I agree, he was not a dump as many are portraying.
Sobotka on the other hand did not seem to offer much talent, but Krueger liked his style so much he put him on the second line.
You obviously watched more Blue playoff games than I.
While on vacation we met a couple of Blues fans who had strong opinions of O'Reilly's performance prior to the finals.
Could you please share what you observed about his contribution.
In particular could you comment on game 7 against the Stars.




I know it was a shame to break up that Stanley cup team.
Oops, I meant it was a shame to break up that play off team.
Oops, I meant it was a shame to break up that bubble team.
Oops, I meant it was a shame to trade away a multi trophy winner.

Did you ever listen to O'Reilly's entire interview?
https://thehockeywriters.com/sabres-oreilly-deserves-respect-not-accusations/
listen at 1:54, 3:00, 4:58 and 5:08 lost his love of the game. We were lucky to get a bucket of pucks after this interview.
Did you remember that STL was in last place until Binnington joined the Blues?
Did you ever read an analysis of the trade directly after the trade: https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2018/07/01/trade-blues-spend-big-to-get-ryan-oreilly-from-sabres/
Only after the trade he had a "spark" https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/ryan-oreilly-trade-blues-spark-now/

I watched the Blues in the playoffs , if O'Reilly played with that high of intensity the Sabres would never have traded him and the team would have made the playoffs at least one of the years he was here.

Hindsight is always 20-20 but you all know the Blues missed the playoff by one point the previous season and added not only O'Reilly but Bozak, Perron and Binnington.
And with Berglund, the Sabres got off to a great start and were in first place in the entire league.
I guess we all forget about these sort of things once we make up our mind about a trade.

EDIT:
Somehow the Sabres had a better record the following year after he was traded.
How is that possible when he was such a great player.

Game 7 was interesting yes he had an okay game, but he was eliminated between the game because they were very good at completely eliminating his shots he had 2 shots one of them was from behind the blueline, and the other was from the face off circle, now when it came to driving and puck possession he was good so the persistence of Blues fan is more or less they have to have something to complain about so let's jus rip a new one for a random player on the team. It has been mostly Alex Pietrangelo, Jake Allen, Alexander Steen, and Justin Faulk.

Got a question for Blues fans.

If you go back in time knowing everything you do today, would you take this trade if Tage Thompson and a 1st was replaced with Robert Thomas and a 2nd? I'm just curious as that's what I was clamoring for at the time.

The two Blues fans we met on vacation had nothing good to say about O'Reilly.
They felt he was not a big factor prior to the final series.
As I said, I watched him in the playoffs, he NEVER played that way in Buffalo.
I would watch him win a faceoff in the defensive zone and about 50% of the time carry to the offensive blue line only to dump the puck in and I would watch the other team carry it out.
Sure he won many face offs but would subsequently give the puck away.

O'Reilly might not be the X-Factor offensively as most Blues fans only see offensive play, but his defensive play was second to none in playoffs, and in that being said I feel that was the reason he won the Conn Smythe not his offensive performance in Stanley Cup Finals.

thank you for your thoughts.
I know +/- does not reveal the entire story, but going into the finals he has the highest +/- of all skaters among the four teams.
The two going to the finals and the two eliminated.
As I said, he did not try while a Sabre, but played well in the finals.

Thomas was basically untouchable. Well, still is.

Let me just go ahead and let you in on something: a considerable segment of Blues fans are dumber than a wet sack of hammers. Of course, I'm sure that's the case with all teams in every sport.

mmmmm no, Thomas was untouchable. Kyrou or Kostin maybe, but Thomas is a HUGE no.

yes but those are mostly lemmings who agree with anything broadcast or printed.
I thought it was very unusual for two fans to go against the flow.

Actually, in St. Louis the dimwits go against the flow, across the river and over looney mountain just to be adversarial. Their takes are bananas and they hate everything good.