ST. LOUIS, MO – MAY 23: Ryan O’Reilly #90 of the St. Louis Blues during warm ups prior to a game against the Colorado Avalanche in Game Four of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Enterprise Center on May 23, 2021, in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Puetz/NHLI via Getty Images)
Late Friday night, it was announced that the St. Louis Blues had traded their captain and fan favorite, Ryan O’Reilly along with forward Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette along with several draft picks.
The move left Blues fans, including myself, sad and angry as O’Reilly became a beloved member of the Blues over his four years and seven months with the team.
O’Reilly was selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche and would spend the first nine seasons of his NHL career with the Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres before being traded to the Blues on July 1, 2018, in exchange for Tage Thompson, Vladimír Sobotka, Patrik Berglund, a 2019 first-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick.
In his first season with the Blues, O’Reilly helped the Blues win their first Stanley Cup in the history of the franchise. He was also awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs after recording a franchise record 23 points in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs while also becoming the first Blues player since Wayne Gretzky in 1985 to score a goal in four consecutive Stanley Cup Final games. Following the 2019-20 season, O’Reilly would beat out Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins and Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward.
On October 31, 2019, with also former Blue Vladimir Tarasenko out due to injury O’Reilly was named as an alternate captain and would later receive the captain ‘C’ on December 23, 2020, after Alex Pietrangelo signed with the Golden Knights over the previous offseason.
On January 22, 2022, O’Reilly played his 900th NHL game and over his career, he has 240 goals and 432 assists for 672 points in 938 NHL games.
O’Reilly also did a lot of work in the community during his time in St. Louis. He ran a program called Ryan’s Den where he would invite kids who were dealing with life-threatening illnesses or from underserved communities to watch a Blues game from a club-level suite at Enterprise Center and also receive a t-shirt and puck along with the opportunity to meet O’Reilly after the game.
I asked the ladies of the ST. LOUIS BLUES GALS! Facebook group to leave messages for Ryan. These are their messages to the captain;
“I’m going to miss him terribly. I was so excited when he came here and fell in love with how he plays! And then to watch him off the ice in everyday life, made me love the person he is even more. We need more RORs in this world. Loved watching him make little Hank’s dream come true! How do you not love someone like that! Thanks for all you’ve done for this city! Hope to see you back as a BlueNote!!” – Beth Manis
In closing, I would like to say thank you for all of the memories and I, along with all Blues fans, wish you the best of luck with the next chapter of your career and we hope to see you wearing the BlueNote again soon.
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