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Ryan O'Reilly

2020 Lady Byng Trophy Finalists Announced

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The NHL continues to release the finalists for the major regular season awards, this time announcing the nominees for the Lady Byng Trophy. The award is given out to “the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly play and conduct” and is often given to those players who perform at a high level without taking many penalties. Last year’s winner was Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers, who took just eight penalty minutes all season.

This year’s finalists are Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues.

MacKinnon, who is also one of the finalists for the Ted Lindsey, saw his penalty minutes plummet this season even as he took on an even larger role for the Avalanche. The 24-year old center was left without many of his talented running mates for long stretches but managed to still score 93 points and take only 12 PIM. That continued a downward trend since he set his career-high with 55 minutes in 2017-18. MacKinnon has received votes for the Lady Byng on just one occasion previously and has not won an individual award since the Calder Trophy in 2014.

Matthews meanwhile also set a career-low in penalty minutes, but his total of eight isn’t surprising given how few he’s taken in his career so far. Through four seasons and 282 games, the Toronto superstar has amassed just 46 PIM and has finished in the top-8 for Lady Byng voting in each. He too has only taken home a Calder Trophy among individual awards, though he trailed David Pastrnak and Alex Ovechkin by just a single tally for this year’s Rocket Richard.

O’Reilly represents the only past winner of the Lady Byng among the finalists. He took it home in 2014 when he took just a single minor penalty all season. That’s a feat he repeated in 2018, but he ended up losing the award to William Karlsson of the Vegas Golden Knights. Though such a strong defensive center, O’Reilly has been one of the best players in the entire league at staying out of the penalty box. He has just 106 PIM over an 11-year, 804-game career and hasn’t taken more than 12 in a season since he was a teenager. In addition to the Lady Byng he won in 2014, O’Reilly also won the Selke and Conn Smythe trophies last season with the St. Louis Blues.

NHL Announces 2019 Selke Trophy Finalists

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The NHL has announced the finalists for the 2019 Frank J. Selke Trophy, given to the best defensive forward in the league. Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, who has won the award four times, received his eighth consecutive nomination. With him are St. Louis Blues center Ryan O’Reilly and Vegas Golden Knights winger Mark Stone.

Bergeron’s presence on the list should come as no surprise. The 33-year old center has long been considered one of the best defensive forwards to ever suit up in the NHL, finishing just outside the finalist group twice even before this nearly unprecedented eight-year run. Still, given the fact that he played just 65 games and logged an average of just 13:30 at even strength some may point to other deserving candidates like Aleksander Barkov who seem to have been overlooked. There’s no doubt that Bergeron still has the chops for this prize, but as he ages and more responsibility is put on other Bruins it will be harder and harder for him to take home the trophy.

In his place as a potential yearly candidate is O’Reilly, who turned in the best season of his career after a move to St. Louis. Though his 77 points don’t directly tie into the Selke voting (or at least, they shouldn’t), they were all the more impressive given his outstanding efforts in the defensive end. O’Reilly was once again one of the best faceoff men in the league, winning more draws than any other player and converting at a 56.9% rate. He has never been named a finalist for the award previously, but has received at least some votes in each of the last eight years.

Stone’s appearance here is perhaps most impressive, given that he does not play the position most often linked to the Selke trophy. The Golden Knights forward lines up on the wing but is arguably the best player in the league at creating neutral zone turnovers and hardly ever gives the puck up without a fight. That two-way ability is exactly why the Golden Knights decided to go out and acquire him at the deadline, and that decision is paying off handsomely as he leads all players with six goals and ten points in the playoffs.

Buffalo Sabres Suspend Patrik Berglund For “Failure To Report”

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In a strange turn of events for the Buffalo Sabres, the team has announced that forward Patrik Berglund has been suspended indefinitely for “failure to report to the team”. Berglund has missed the past two games for the Sabres with what the team reported as a sickness, but which now seems like something else entirely. Few details have emerged yet about this bizarre situation.

Berglund, 30, is in his first season with the Sabres after being traded away by the St. Louis Blues this off-season as part of the Ryan O’Reilly return. While Berglund began the season as Buffalo’s second-line center and was reportedly looking forward to mentoring the teams many young Swedish players, things haven’t played out so nicely for the veteran pivot. Berglund has spent the majority of the early season skating in the bottom-six and has just four points in 23 games, by far the worst scoring rate of his career. Berglund missed five games due to injury in the first two months of the season, but was also twice tabbed as a healthy scratch. Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington reports that Berglund did not take too kindly to being benched. Harrington adds that Berglund has also been very closed off with the media during his time in Buffalo, in retrospect probably a reflection of his frustration with his current situation.

Interestingly, Berglund’s alleged abandonment of the team comes without even a whisper of trade demands. Of course, those talks will now begin, regardless of whether or not there is a resolution to the present situation. Berglund is clearly unhappy with the Sabres and the team has sent a clear message that his behavior will not be tolerated. A change of scenery seems necessary and the sooner the better. Berglund is in the second season of a five-year contract signed in St. Louis. The deal carries a $3.85MM cap hit, slightly steep and lengthy for his current level of play, and a limited No-Trade Clause with a 20-team no-trade list, although Berglund is unlikely to decline any move out of Buffalo. The veteran forward is capable of putting up 30+ points per season and brings size and net front presence. He can also line up at all three forward positions and is familiar with both special teams assignments. With that said, Berglund’s current stunt – albeit without all the details yet known – on top of his poor production and unfriendly contract is not going to help his trade stock whatsoever. Hopefully the two sides come to terms on a solution to this situation sooner rather than later.

Arizona Coyotes Discussed Ryan O’Reilly With Buffalo Sabres

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In an almost unprecedented example of behind the scenes access, the Arizona Coyotes have released a 16-minute video that follows GM John Chayka as he prepared for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The feature shows clips from scouting discussions and prospect interviews, eventually concluding with the Coyotes first-round selection of Barrett Hayton with the fifth-overall pick. In one particularly interesting scene though, Chayka is in his office speaking with Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill about a trade for forward Hudson Fasching, which would eventually be announced on June 14th.

Before Chayka hangs up, he mentions to Botterill some ongoing talks he had been having with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and mentions their previous discussions about Ryan O’Reilly. We can only hear Chayka’s side of the conversation, but it is quite an interesting reveal.

We’re working with Jim [Rutherford], Pittsburgh on a few things. I guess as it relates to our O’Reilly discussions, is there anything there that would entice you, that you would consider to be an important piece that you’d like as part of that deal? 

Whatever Botterill responded with wasn’t a good fit for Chayka, who responded that it would be “tough to do” while they still had things brewing with Pittsburgh. O’Reilly would end up being traded to the St. Louis Blues on July 1st just before his signing bonus was due to be paid, while the Coyotes failed to make a trade with the Penguins at all. Interestingly, there were reports that the Penguins had been interested in Max Domi, who was traded to the Montreal Canadiens just a day after the Fasching deal was completed.

While there are likely plenty of other examples of teams discussing O’Reilly before he was eventually traded, the fact that the Coyotes were interested at least in passing shows how the team is ready to start competing for the playoffs instead of stockpiling young assets. Arizona really took a step forward in the second half of last season, and should be an improved team that could jump up in the standings this season. While they didn’t acquire an excellent two-way center like O’Reilly, they did add Alex Galchenyuk, Michael Grabner and Vinnie Hinostroza to a forward group that already had solid talents like Clayton Keller and Derek Stepan.

Ryan O’Reilly Traded To St. Louis Blues

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The St. Louis Blues added some forward depth today by signing Tyler Bozak and David Perron, but weren’t done making a splash. The team has acquired Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly. The Sabres will receive a 2019 first round pick, a 2021 second round pick, Tage Thompson, Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund. The deal will be completed today and the Blues will pay O’Reilly’s $7.5MM signing bonus, due just before midnight. The 2019 pick is top-10 protected, meaning should the season get away from the Blues they will not have to give up a high pick next summer.

While the deal certainly brings several assets to the Sabres, getting rid of the Sobotka and Berglund contracts were imperative for the Blues to get something like this done. TO complete the deal without giving up one of their top prospects like Robert Thomas or Jordan Kyrou, while also protecting their deep defensive corps. The Blues are ready to compete once again in 2018-19, and have brought in some experienced forwards to put them over the top.

For the Sabres, they not only deal O’Reilly before having to pay his signing bonus, but also get five useful assets. While Sobotka and Berglund were slightly overpaid and potentially hurting the Blues salary structure, they’re clear upgrades on some of the bottom-six options that Buffalo has used over the past few seasons. Thompson meanwhile is an excellent prospect in his own right, and should give them another key building block in their quest for redemption. Grouping the 20-year old Thompson with Rasmus Dahlin, Jack Eichel, Casey Mittelstadt and others will give Buffalo a core that they can really market as a future perennial playoff team.

Pierre LeBrun and Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic were the first to confirm the trade.

Sabres Notes: O’Reilly, Ristolainen, Bogosian, Grubauer

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With the Stanley Cup champions crowned and the offseason getting underway, the trade season is about to get started. In Buffalo, many expect general manager Jason Botterill to make some changes after a dysfunctional season. The most popular name on the trade rumor circuit is Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly, who helped out the rumors after his season ended when he remarked he hated losing and lost his passion for the game around a locker room full of players who don’t care.

However, the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington believes that trading O’Reilly would be a mistake and advises Botterill to hold onto the center. One key reason is the team has now added two key players in Casey Mittelstadt and Rasmus Dahlin, both who should take the talent level up a notch in Buffalo. Trading a quality center in his prime doesn’t make a lot of sense if the goal is to be more competitive. How would the team replace O’Reilly’s minutes if the team traded him away? And that doesn’t even mention his value for his ability to win faceoffs.

Harrington said his comments made after the season makes sense. He wants to win. He is desperate for a winning situation. O’Reilly has already said at the World Championships last month that he was stoked about the Sabres winning the draft lottery and wants to stay in Buffalo. Another argument is that while he has a large contract, O’Reilly’s $52MM contract was heavily frontloaded with Buffalo already having paid $20MM in the first two years. Starting in 2019-20, he will cost just $6MM per year ($5MM signing bonus, $1MM salary), making it a very affordable contract in the coming years.

  • Harrington does say that the team probably should look to move on from defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. With Dahlin coming in, the team doesn’t need him as bad and the scribe believes that the constant losing has gotten to Ristolainen more than anyone and had trouble seeing eye-to-eye with Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, suggesting that the defenseman might need a change of scenery. Ristolainen’s numbers declined slightly in his fifth year with the team as he had six goals and 41 points in 73 games. He notes a trade rumor of Ristolainen for Edmonton’s Oscar Klefbom as a smart way to give two players change of sceneries without disrupting the team’s overall defense.
  • In the same article, Harrington questions the intelligence of buying out defenseman Zach Bogosian this offseason. With two more years on his seven-year, $36MM deal he signed back in 2013 with the Winnipeg Jets at $5.14MM AAV, the team might be better off sticking with his contract. A buyout would reduce their cap hit to $1.14MM over the next two years, but the Sabres would then have to shell out $2MM for the next two years following that when he wouldn’t be on the books anymore. Considering the team isn’t dealing with major cap implications at the moment, a buyout wouldn’t make much sense.
  • Harrington adds that the Sabres need to be taking a serious look at Washington Capitals goaltender Philipp Grubauer. With a major need in goal and the New York Islanders already showing interest, it would make a lot of sense for the Sabres to trade for the backup goaltender. After taking the starting job from Brayden Holtby for a time near the end of the season, many believe Grubauer is ready for a starters’ role next year.

Pacific Notes: Canucks, Miller, Christoffer

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While the Canucks have been linked to the Hurricanes and defenseman Noah Hanifin, that isn’t the only prominent Eastern Conference player they appear to have interest in.  TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggested in a segment on TSN 1040 (audio link) that Buffalo center Ryan O’Reilly is also on their radar.  It’s no surprise that Vancouver is in the market for help down the middle after losing Henrik Sedin to retirement; they now have that void to fill inside their top-six.  While on the surface it would seem counter-intuitive to add veteran help when the team appears to be in rebuilding mode, O’Reilly still has five years left on his contract so he’d still be around when the Canucks look to shift gears and try to get into contention.  He carries a $7.5MM cap hit with most of his money due in annual signing bonuses so it’s worth watching to see if Buffalo tries to deal him before a $7.5MM payment is due next month.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • Golden Knights defenseman Colin Miller sustained a broken nose during Monday’s Game Four loss to the Capitals, the team announced (Twitter link). The injury was sustained in the third period in a collision with Washington winger T.J. Oshie.  Miller remained in the game and should be available to play in what is a must-win Game Five for Vegas on Thursday night.
  • Oilers pending RFA winger Braden Christoffer has signed a one-year contract with their minor league affiliate in Bakersfield, the AHL team announced. Christoffer was signed as an undrafted free agent by Edmonton back in 2015 but has yet to make it past the AHL.  This past season, he had 15 points along with 96 penalty minutes in 63 games with the Condors.  This makes it likely that he will not be qualified by the team in advance of the June 25th deadline.

Ryan O’Reilly “Preparing To Be In Buffalo”

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At the end of the season, Ryan O’Reilly of the Buffalo Sabres was very critical of himself and the fact that he had lost some of the love he had for the game of hockey. He spoke about maybe becoming too complacent and allowing the team to be satisfied with losing. It immediately sent up alarm bells for Sabres fans, who had heard O’Reilly’s name thrown around in trade rumors even before his comments.

Those comments though had a similar effect. Rumors have swirled for the last few weeks around the 27-year old center, wondering if there was a break up approaching between him and Buffalo. O’Reilly did his best to put those rumors to bed recently, as he spoke with Darren Dreger of TSN:

I was being honest. When I reflect on the year, who else can I look at? I’m one of the guys who plays the most minutes, and it’s my fault. I want to change. I want to be in Buffalo. I love it there. Obviously we’re getting the first pick which is huge, but it’s a great city and I want to be there and I want to win. 

I think I have a pretty good relationship with the GM, and you know if something happens it happens and that’s hockey. But you know, I plan and am preparing to be in Buffalo. Same role, same sort of thing.

O’Reilly has five years left on his massive $52.5MM contract, but would still have some value in trade should someone approach the Sabres. The hard-nosed center led the league in won faceoffs this season, and put up 61 points even while playing with some questionable linemates at times. That’s the second-highest total of his career, something he’ll have to build on if he is to really turn the Sabres around next season.

Obviously, there are changes coming in Buffalo. Rasmus Dahlin is expected to be selected first-overall, but some of their other young players will need to step up. Casey Mittelstadt will likely be given a full-time role, while Brendan Guhle should earn more time with the NHL club. O’Reilly’s leadership will be a key part of their development, and the overall success of the club.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Sabres Expected To Receive Trade Interest In Ryan O’Reilly

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While John Tavares is going to receive the bulk of the headlines when it comes to available centers this summer due to his looming free agency, Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly is certainly a name to keep an eye on as well.  In a segment on 630 CHED (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman stated that he expects the Sabres to receive a lot of interest in their two-way pivot.

Last month, O’Reilly made waves at his exit interview, stating how he was content with losing and was losing his passion for the game.  Some have speculated that his preference is to be dealt and that his comments were a ploy to force his way out of town.

The 27-year-old has emerged as a high-quality two-way player and is one of the best in the league at the faceoff dot.  He also has been quite consistent offensively, putting up between 55-64 points in six of the last seven seasons; the one year he didn’t was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign (where his point-per-game pace extrapolated to 57 points over a full year).  This past season, he had 61 points (24-37-61) in 81 games while taking over 2,000 draws for the first time in his career, winning a career-best 60% of them.

There is, however, one other notable factor and that’s his contract.  O’Reilly has a $7.5MM cap hit which may be difficult to fit in for some teams but the breakdown is also noteworthy.  The majority of his deal is in the form of signing bonuses that are payable in the summer; his in-season salary is just $1MM per year.  Potentially, that could present a concern for some more budget-conscious teams, especially since the setup allows him to be paid most of his money even if there is another work stoppage on the horizon.

Despite that, given the demand for quality centers, it’s certainly reasonable to expect that GM Jason Botterill will field some quality offers in the weeks to come.  In the interview, Friedman alludes to a belief that Botterill feels he needs to change the core (aside from drafting defenseman Rasmus Dahlin next month) and moving O’Reilly would be one way to do so while landing a quality package in return.

Sabres Notes: O’Reilly, Ristolainen, Lehner

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With the Buffalo Sabres at the bottom of the standings, you can expect that general manager Jason Botterill plans to shake things up. However, where do you start? The obvious answer is start looking at players who don’t want to be there and it looks like center Ryan O’Reilly has made it clear he wants out of Buffalo, according to the Buffalo News’ Jon Vogl.

The talented 27-year-old shocked a lot of people during his exit interview when he revealed that he was fine with losing and has started to lose his love for the game. Vogl writes that it isn’t just a coincidence that O’Reilly admitted these things on his way out the door for another offseason. He believes O’Reilly and his agent have orchestrated this to force his way out of Buffalo as he and his agent have had a major role in dictating every stage of his pro career, from his entry-level deal to his restricted free agent years to his trade from Colorado.

While his numbers are good as the center has scored 65 goals and 111 assists in three years in Buffalo, a trade would still likely to be difficult as he has five more years on his contract at $7.5MM. Even with the salary cap likely to go up, that’s a big contract that many playoff teams couldn’t afford unless the team intends to retain salary, which they’d likely prefer not to do.

“The sense that I’ve been given from the management in Buffalo, is yeah of course he’s going to listen on Ryan O’Reilly,” TSN’s Darren Dreger said on WGR Friday. “But it would take an absolute sweetheart deal for the Buffalo Sabres to consider. In saying that, he’s a hell of a player. On pretty much every team in the league he’s at least a #2 center isn’t he? There’s going to be a market for Ryan O’Reilly and Jason Botterill is going to have some tough decisions specific to O’Reilly. Teams who need centers will do whatever they need to do to get in that conversation…Botterill will be big game hunting.”

Throw in the fact that Botterill will be looking for a big payday after finding himself on the losing end of the deal when he traded away forward Evander Kane to the San Jose Sharks for much less than what he had hoped. So a trade partner might even be more difficult to find.

  • Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News writes that besides O’Reilly, the team will likely also seriously look to trade defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, even suggesting he should find a real estate agent. Ristolainen is another player who puts up solid numbers, but seems to lack the leadership skills that Buffalo needs to take that next step. The 23-year-old blueliner had six goals and 35 assists this year.
  • Harrington also admits the team will attempt to trade goaltender Robin Lehner, but after a difficult season in which he had just 14 wins and a 3.01 GAA, the team might have trouble moving him. The good news is Lehner does not require surgery on his hip injury, which should make him a little easier to move. Harrington believes that the team may choose to let him walk as a restricted free agent if the team fails to find a trade partner, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.

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