When the St. Louis Blues acquired Ryan O’Reilly in the summer of 2018, most fans were quite happy with the deal, focusing on the quality of player they were getting. Of course, you were going to have your naysayers.
When the Blues were struggling early in the season, even though O’Reilly was playing well, there were thoughts that he was the issue. Sports fans love to believe in curses and bad luck and O’Reilly had gained the reputation of being bad luck since every team he had been on seemed to improve when he left. The fact Buffalo had an excellent start to 2018-19 rubbed some sand in the wound.