DENVER — The draft pick allowed them to dream.
Colorado nabbed him in 2009. There was anticipation and an expectation. A belief — and perhaps a little relief — that Colorado had finally found its next great player.
His name was Matt Duchene, the No. 3 overall pick.
But there was this other kid, too. The second-rounder.
“You know what? He was always just really impressive, even coming in as an 18-year-old — he didn’t act 18,” said longtime NHL player John-Michael Liles, who played from 2009 to 2011 with Ryan O’Reilly, by phone Saturday. “He acted a lot older and was somebody that carried himself really well on and off the ice. A hard worker. Just a good kid — one of those ones, like when you’re an older player and you have young kids come in, you didn’t have to show them a ton, because he just did things naturally. Working hard came naturally to him. And just being a good teammate came naturally to him, as well.”
O’Reilly made the Avs that year, becoming the first non-first-rounder to immediately make the NHL since Patrice Bergeron in 2003-04. Duchene made the Avs, too, and became an important player. But O’Reilly became a complete player.
Twelve years later, here we are — O’Reilly, forever a part of hockey lore, looking to make more. And he’ll have to beat his original franchise to do so. There is anticipation and an expectation.
“We’re going to beat them,” the Blues captain said in a Zoom conference last week.
O’Reilly is the Blues’ most-important player in this series. And they say he makes those around him better — well, that better be the case, because his he’ll likely have a new linemate now that David Perron, the team’s leader in points, is on the COVID list. The Perron news is frustrating and it definitely dings the underdogs. But there should still be a confidence, there should still be swagger on skates, because when O’Reilly is at his best, other Blues often rise to the level of their captain — tenacious and undeterred.
“He’ll show you the way,” Blues forward Mike Hoffman said.
We’ve seen it in key games this season. Notably against the Avalanche. It was April 24, about a “must-win” as a regular season game can get. St. Louis trailed, 2-0 early, in St. Louis. But O’Reilly willed the team back into the competition. He played relentless hockey. Forced a turnover, scored the first goal. Worked some stick wizardry, scored the second goal. Finished with a hat trick. The must-win was won.
Oh, and in eight games against the Avs this season, O’Reilly had seven points.
“I think I played, what, six years there — it definitely would be more special to beat them,” O’Reilly said. “There are no friends in playoffs. It’s all business, it’s all war. These games throughout the season, these games have been so intense and so competitive. It’s fun though. It’s going to be an intense battle. I want to beat them bad.”
That first season, before the beard and the Lady Byng, and way before the Selke and Conn Smythe, the rookie O’Reilly tallied eight goals and 18 assists in 81 games in his age-18 season. Colorado made the playoffs. With Duchene and O’Reilly and, soon after, Gabe Landeskog, it looked like Colorado would always make the playoffs. But O’Reilly only made it once more in Colorado, back in 2013-14 — though he continued to grow as a player and a person. And he grew habits that helped him sustain his game.
And now, he’s St. Louis’ best sports yogi since Yogi.
“I actually think I sent him to a yoga class or two — I did it quite a bit,” said Liles, who lives in Denver. “My wife actually still teaches yoga. So I pointed out a couple different places for him when he came into the league. But he was a guy that was always dialed in. He’s never afraid to look to do what it took to take care of his body — and to make sure that he felt that he was operating at the top of his game.”
O’Reilly, now 30, still includes yoga in his training and his pregame routine. In Denver, he even graced the cover of Mile High Sports magazine in a yoga pose. As a columnist for The Denver Post, I once asked Landeskog about O’Reilly’s aura: “He’s Mr. Yoga. I don’t know how to word it, but he’s certainly in-line with himself. Body and mind, it’s all in-line. And you can tell, he’s a very calm guy. He knows who he is, and he’s always himself.”
The centered center embraces the fullness of the position, playing up-and-down the ice with the same intention. They sure will need this defensive-minded offensive player against this slithering, Showtime-type offense in burgundy and blue. The former Avalanche will have to help thwart an avalanche. Duchene is long gone, but now Colorado has new dazzling top picks in their prime.
The Perron news really does stink. But optimism remains because captain Ryan O’Reilly surely wouldn’t let adversity negatively affect his Blues, so why should the other Blues?
“You just see him,” Blues forward Zach Sanford said, “and he’s the first one to the rink, the last one to leave. And his preparation and his yoga and his stretches and his whole pregame warmup — for our team, it’s good to see our leaders like that, dialed in all the time, all day, every day. It’s easy to follow in his footsteps when you know your best player brings it every night.”
