Blues name O’Reilly captain; Tarasenko, Schenn, Parayko to be assistants

Ryan O’Reilly hasn’t been with the St. Louis Blues long, but he’s spent pretty much every minute of the last two seasons in a Blue Note sweater looking every bit like a leader.

On Friday, the Blues recognized that officially by awarding the 29-year-old center the C. He’ll take over as team captain for Alex Pietrangelo, who left as a free agent for the Vegas Golden Knights after last season.

Wearing the A as assistant captains will be Vladimir Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn and Colton Parayko.

“Ryan’s work ethic on and off the ice and his commitment day in and day out is second to none,” coach Craig Berube said. “He leads by example with how hard he works during practices and our games and he relays the right message from our coaching staff to our entire team.”

ROR will wear the C for the Note.@StLouisBlues #stlblues pic.twitter.com/XHaG5HazDB

— FOX Sports Midwest (@FSMidwest) December 23, 2020

The upcoming season will be the first in which O’Reilly, 29, has been a team captain. He was an assistant captain for the Blues last season and, prior to his arrival in St. Louis in 2018, for the Buffalo Sabres.

Tarasenko, 29, has been an assistant captain the past four seasons. Schenn, 29, and Parayko, 27, will wear the A for the first time in their NHL careers.