Blues Acquire Ryan O'Reilly

			2018 Season			July 1st, 2018
To St. Louis	POS	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Years	Cap Hit
Ryan O'Reilly	F	27	81	24	61	5	$7.5 mil
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To Buffalo	POS	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Years	Cap Hit
Vladimir Sobotka	F	31	81	11	31	2	$3.5 mil
Patrik Berglund	F	30	57	17	26	4	$3.85 mil
Tage Thompson	F	20	41	3	9	2	$925k
2019 1st Round Draft Pick
2021 2nd Round Draft Pick

There was a lot of talk surrounding Ryan O'Reilly's future with the Buffalo Sabres, as his name was bandied about in trade rumours for quite some time, not to mention what kind of return they could get, before or after a signing bonus was to be paid out by the end of Sunday.  The Sabres found a dance partner with the St. Louis Blues, who took on the signing bonus and the five years remaining on his contract and in return, they got a very solid package, including three players and two top end draft picks.

The Sabres added some more veteran help in Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund, a top prospect in Tage Thompson, plus a 1st and a 2nd round pick down the line.  This really changes the complexion of the Sabres as a whole, on top of the full-time addition of Casey Mittlestadt and Conor Sheary to the lineup as well. 

The Blues add a very good power forward/centre in O'Reilly, who joins David Perron and Tyler Bozak as new faces in this off-season, as they retool to compete harder in the Central Division.  The Blues already had themselves a pretty good 2018, scoring-wise, but adding more weapons, like a 27-year old centre, so expectations may be raised a little bit more for the 2019 season.