On July 1st, 2018, the St. Louis Blues were part of a blockbuster deal with the Buffalo Sabres to bring Ryan O'Reilly to the team. The Blues believed O'Reilly was the missing piece they needed to capture the Stanley Cup. The deal was the Blues get O'Reilly in exchange for Tage Thompson, a top-10 protected 2019 first-round pick, a 2021 second-round pick, and Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund.
In the short term, the deal worked out perfectly for the Blues. O'Reilly accomplished everything he could have wanted in his first season as a Blue. He won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward. Additionally, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy, given out to the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs, on his way to helping the Blues win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their team's history. He was named the team captain in 2020 following then-captain Alex Pietrangelo signing with the Vegas Golden Knights in free agency.
His tenure with the Blues did not end as he or the fans would have hoped. After it became clear that this iteration of the Blues was not good enough to compete for a Stanley Cup anymore, the front office decided it was time to start a new era and traded O'Reilly for a haul. O'Reilly spent four and a half years in St. Louis while giving the franchise some great memories. It has been seven years since the trade happened, and a lot has happened since then. Let us take a moment and look at all the pieces involved and see which team came out on top.
What the Blues Got
On the Blues' side, the only piece they acquired in the trade was O'Reilly. The Blues got four and a half years of service and a Stanley Cup. In 327 games as a Blue, O'Reilly had 97 goals and 269 points to go with the stellar defensive play that helped him win the Selke Trophy in 2019. Even though that is the only piece the Blues got in the deal with the Sabres, that is not where it ends, because the team was able to recoup assets when the team traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Blues traded O'Reilly and Noel Acciari to the Maple Leafs for Mikhail Abramov, Adam Gaudette, Toronto's first-round pick in 2023, Ottawa's third-round pick in 2023 and Toronto's second-round pick in 2024. Abramov played a year and a half for the Springfield Thunderbirds before heading home to Russia to play in the KHL for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. The Blues still hold Abramov's NHL rights if he wants to come back and play in the NHL. Gaudette had electric numbers with the Thunderbirds but only managed to play two games for the Blues before signing with the Ottawa Senators last offseason.
With Toronto's first-round pick, the Blues selected centre Otto Stenberg from Sweden. Stenberg spent the past two seasons in the SHL with Frölunda HC and Malmö Redhawks before coming to North America to play for the Thunderbirds. In 38 games with the Thunderbirds, Stenberg had five goals and 17 points. Stenberg is a promising young centreman but is still probably a year or two away from playing in the NHL.
With the third-round pick the Blues got from Toronto, the team selected winger Juraj Pekarčík. Pekarčík played for the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the USHL last season before moving to the QMJHL to play for the Moncton Wildcats this year. Pekarčík had a fantastic first season in the QMJHL, posting 24 goals and 67 points in 53 games. He continued his brilliant play into the playoffs, where he recorded nine goals and 21 points in 19 games, helping the Wildcats win the QMJHL championship. The Blues might have found a steal in the third round, but it will be a couple of years before we see if that will translate into the NHL.
The Blues also had a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft from Toronto, and they used it on defenceman Lukas Fischer. Fischer is a big, mobile defenceman who spent the last three seasons playing for the Sarnia Sting in the OHL, where he was their captain this past season. In 51 games, Fischer recorded 15 goals and 37 points before moving to the Thunderbirds after the OHL season. Blues fans may not know much about Fischer yet, but with the blueliner playing for the Thunderbirds now, it will be easier to keep a closer eye on the young defenceman.
What the Sabres Received
The Sabres got an impressive haul for O'Reilly, some good, some bad. Berglund and Sobotka were effective players for the Blues. However, once they got to the Sabres, it was almost as if they did not want to be there. Berglund lasted just 23 games in Buffalo before he decided to go back home to Sweden to play in the SHL. Sobotka lasted a bit longer than Berglund, playing 85 games for the Sabres and recording 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 has yet to establish himself as a full-time NHLer. He spent most of this season in the AHL with the Rochester Americans, posting 13 points in 66 games.
The Sabres did not use the Blues' 2021 second-round pick but packaged it with their 2022 fifth-round pick to acquire defenceman Colin Miller from the Vegas Golden Knights. Miller played parts of three seasons in Buffalo before signing with the Dallas Stars in free agency.
The final piece of the trade was a young centreman named Tage Thompson. The saying is you leave the best till last, and Thompson makes up for every other miss the Sabres had in this trade. Thompson was a young player still trying to find his footing in St. Louis before the team traded him to Buffalo. It took him a couple of seasons to adjust to the NHL game, but now he looks like a star. The 2021-22 season was his breakout year, finishing the season with 38 goals and 68 points in 78 games. He followed that campaign with a 47-goal, 94-point season, proving that the previous season was not just a fluke. In Thompson's last four seasons, he has amassed 168 goals and is a legitimate threat to hit the 40-goal mark every season. Thompson continued his brilliant play at this year's IIHF World Championship, scoring the overtime-winning goal, helping the USA win their first gold medal in 92 years. The trade might have worked out for the Blues in the short term, with them winning the Stanley Cup in 2019, which is the ultimate goal. However, if Thompson continues his stellar play, we might look back and say what could have been if the Blues let him develop and added him to their young core, which included Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou.
Final Verdict: Win-Win or Missed Opportunity?
Looking back on the trade seven years later, it is tough to say who ultimately won this trade. The Blues needed a legitimate first-line centreman for their aging core, who was in a win-now mode. The Blues got what they wanted, and without O'Reilly, the Blues would not have won the Stanley Cup in 2019. At the same time, the Blues were smart, and instead of letting O'Reilly walk in free agency, they were able to recoup assets to speed up the rebuild process. Stenberg, Pekarčík, and Fischer are all still very young in their careers and have lots of potential, but it is still too early to say.
On Buffalo's side, there is not much to love on their end of the trade. Berglund and Sobotka were in town for what felt like just a cup of coffee and left without the team being able to use them as trade pieces. Johnson has not panned out yet, but he is only 23 years old. Miller had three years of service in Buffalo but left in free agency. The best player of the trade could likely be Thompson, a goalscoring machine. By the end of his career, if he can help turn the Sabres franchise around, he alone can swing the verdict of this trade. However, with the Sabres' recent history, there is no certainty that the franchise will utilize the prime of his career to its fullest. The Blues may look back at this trade and imagine what this team could look like with Thompson alongside Thomas, Kyrou, Dalibor Dvorský, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Dylan Holloway. However, I doubt they regret bringing the city of St. Louis their first-ever Stanley Cup.