On Friday night, twelve days after he was traded to the St. Louis Blues, O'Reilly tweeted a goodbye and thank you note to the fans of the Buffalo Sabres.
O'Reilly thanked Kim and Terry Pegula for their excellent treatment of their Sabres players. O'Reilly also thanked his former Sabres teammates. O'Reilly didn't thank former Sabres GM Tim Murray who orcstrated the blockbuster trade with Colorado that delivered O'Reilly to Buffalo moments after the 2015 NHL Draft began.
"To the people of Buffalo, your unwavering support for your teams is inspirational," ROR said. "You even made me a Bills fan! I also want to thank you for being so good to me and my family. I know we didn't get the result you wanted but you are in great hands and have a bright future."
Nothing like a timely thank you note to Sabres fans.
During his three year stint in Buffalo, O'Reilly played 224 regular season games and zero playoff games.
O'Reilly potted 65 goals (31 PPG) and 111 assists (38 PPA) for 176 points (69 PPP). O'Reilly won 58.3% of his draws and averaged 21:19 TOI.
With O'Reilly in their starting lineup, the Sabres were a losing team. In 2015-16, Buffalo finished 23rd overall. In 2016-17 the Sabres finished 26th overall. Last season the Sabres finished in 31st place overall.
The losing record was not O'Reilly's fault. He did his best to deliver his team to the playoffs. In the end, Jason Botterill decided it was time to blow up his core by trading his team's best faceoff man who doubled as the Sabres' highest paid player. O'Reilly is the owner of a 7-year, $52.5 million jumbo contract. Botterill wasn't shopping O'Reilly. However, he agreed to trade O'Reilly to the Blues when Doug Armstrong ponied up five high-value assets.
Rookie Casey Mittelstadt will replace O'Reilly as the second line center in Buffalo this season.
On July 1, O'Reilly was traded to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for five premium pieces in a 2019 first round draft choice, 2021 second round draft choice, A+ winger prospect Tage Thompson, plus veteran centers Patrik Berglund and Vald Sobotka.
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