Bergland via Housley officially made us lose big in O'Reilly trade

[Buffalo Rick]

When Housley ran Bergland out of town, it left no doubt we got our pants dropped in this trade with the Blues.  Ryan O'Reilly is proving what a great player he is.  We knew that all along though. Botterill knew this.  So why did he do it?  Its a bit of a head scratcher.  Bergland and Svobotka are both good hockey players but not in the caliber of O'Reilly.  The draft picks sweetened the deal I guess and made it look close. But losing Bergland was not expected.  Cant blame Botterill for that.  I blame Housley, who is now thankfully gone. I never liked the hiring of him. I know he is a long time devoted Sabres all star defenseman in his playing days. But good or great players do not translate into great coach's that often. Just look at Wayne for an example.  But Botterill never saw this mess with Bergland coming. It really sucks because I was happy to have him. Chalk this on up as a loss.  Still no new coach.  Makes me wonder what Botterill is thinking?

[radoran]

The Blues snookered the Sabres GM by trading a guy who had a modified NTC knowing he wouldn't have wanted to go to Buffalo.

 

Housley didn't "run Berglund out of town" - Berglund walked away. You know this and no amount of you insisting it was "the coach's fault" will change any of it.

 

Now you still have the guy who got snookered in the deal making decisions for the organization.

 

Good luck with that.

[yave1964]

NO. Berglund ran Berglund out and quite frankly it doesn't matter anyway, he is a ten year vet who scores 30 points a year who has struggled to find a role forever with the Blues. it is not as if he were suddenly going to turn into O'reilly, he is who he is, a flawed aging player and the absolute only reason he was moved out had nothing to do with skill, it was to make the money work, same as Sobotka. The hope was that Thompson would develop (he hasn't and I think he is going to be a bust) and the picks would work out, Sobotka and Berglund just balanced out the salary-nothing more. Everyone reported that at the time even.