O'Reilly stands by end-of-season comments about losing love of game

Ryan O'Reilly has no regrets about how his end-of-season locker room clean out interview went.

After another losing season with the Buffalo Sabres, O'Reilly said the following when asked if the team was mentally strong enough, according to The Athletic's Joe Yerdon.

Yeah, I think our mindset is ... we're stuck in this mindset of just being okay with losing. I feel too I think it's really crept in with myself and over the course of the year, I lost myself a lot and where you just kind of get through and being the guy and being okay with making a mistake and that's just not winning hockey at all and it's crept into all of our games. It's disappointing, it's sad. I feel throughout the year I've lost the love of the game multiple times. I need to get back to it; it's eaten myself up and you can see other guys, too. It's eaten myself up. It's tough.

O'Reilly, who was traded to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, stood by those candid comments during a conference call Monday.

"My comments, I stand by them," he said to John Wawrow of The Associated Press, according to colleague Stephen Whyno. "I wanted to make a change. I wanted to personally do things different and be more honest."

Those comments may have come from the heart at the time they were said, but now, O'Reilly seems energized to be heading to the Gateway to the West.

"I couldn't be happier going to St. Louis. I'm absolutely thrilled," he said. "I feel like I have a spark in me now. It's something different."

This shouldn't come as that much of a surprise, as the Sabres finished dead-last in the NHL a season ago. While the Blues also missed the playoffs, they could very well return next year, and O'Reilly may get a chance to play alongside star winger Vladimir Tarasenko.

Regardless, O'Reilly had nothing but good things to say about the Sabres and the city of Buffalo.

"I love that city and love those guys on that team," he told Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. "I think they're a team that's very close too. It will be interesting to see what will happen with them ... they're in good hands and there's great things to come there.

"They've been monumental in my life."