Not likely that the Avs will move O’Reilly
On to Ryan O’Reilly. The sense is teams would be pretty shocked if the Colorado Avalanche traded him during the season. Colorado’s got a good thing going and O’Reilly is head coach Patrick Roy’s kind of player and personality. He’s also one of the forwards – along with Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau and Paul Stastny – Roy’s usage indicates he trusts most in the defensive zone against the best competition.
For that reason, the logical move is to see how things go in the playoffs and at the bargaining table. The Avalanche must qualify O’Reilly at $6.5 million, but there’s time to let that play out. I did check in with one team that asked about him last year. The GM’s response? “They wanted too much then and, the way he’s playing, it’s not getting any cheaper now.”
http://www.cbc.ca/sports-content/hockey/opinion/2014/01/30-thoughts-nothing-wrong-with-starting-fourth-line-in-nhl.html