Category Archives: Colorado Avalanche
short-term deal at $5M per year not sought from Avs
he agent for Avalanche center Ryan O’Reilly on Monday said the restricted free agent is not asking for a short-term contract at $5 million annually, but Mark Guy declined to specify what has been offered by Colorado or how far apart the sides remain.
“People report numbers without any mention of term and it is just as important a consideration,” agent Guy wrote in a text message.
Last week, an NHL source told The Denver Post that O’Reilly, 21, was seeking $5 million a year and turned down two deals: two years for $7 million (a $3.5 million average) and five years worth $17 million ($3.4 million average) .
O’Reilly standoff with the Avalanche continues
What is the situation with O’Reilly? It seems to be an old-fashioned, stubborn standoff between him and the Avs. General manager Greg Sherman declined to comment Saturday, other than to say communication is ongoing with O’Reilly’s agent, Mark Guy. The Avs have two offers on the table to O’Reilly: five years at $17 million or two years at $7 million. The Avs believe a salary averaging about $3.5 million per season is consistent with others in their dressing room — it’s what Matt Duchene is averaging — and they aren’t interested in going near the roughly $5 million a year O’Reilly is seeking.
NHL rumors: Might Avs forward and restricted free agent Ryan O’Reilly be staying in KHL longer? cbsprt.co/UlohgT
— Eye on Hockey (@EyeOnHockey) January 14, 2013
Will the Avs trade O’Reilly
Will standout young center Ryan O’Reilly be under contract and available to play in the Jan. 19 season opener?
The Avalanche locker room just isn’t the same without the hardworking “Factor,” a 21-year-old unrestricted free agent who is still playing in Russia.
Mark Kiszla: Dealing Avs’ Matt Duchene a smart idea
This hockey town isn’t big enough for Paul Stastny, Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly.
Three outstanding centers are one more than Colorado needs.
Somebody needs to go.
Somebody needs to be bait for the well-known, top-scoring, fed-up wingers on the NHL trade market, Bobby Ryan of Anaheim and Rick Nash of Columbus.
The Avs have a need for somebody to put the puck in the net and a happy surplus of playmakers.
So what’s Colorado general manager Greg Sherman going to do about it?
Whenever the Avs lose two in a row, fans automatically take out their frustration on Stastny, whose rock-solid (and often boring) work on the ice never matches the expectations of his $6.6 million salary.
But here’s a different take: Duchene is the center who makes the most sense for the Avs to trade.
His flash would be an easy sell for a GM in another market. At 21 years old, his potential stirs the imagination. His new two-year, $7 million contract is easy to digest under the salary cap.
Paul Stastny: should he be traded?
After reading the results of a poll taken by our friends over at Mile High Hockey, it seems there is a sizable segment of the Avalanche fan base that wouldn’t mind seeing Paul Stastny traded for a player like Bobby Ryan of Anaheim.
Fact is, Ryan has made it very clear he’s not happy in Anaheim anymore. He’s a left winger, and the Avs need a left winger to fill a hole vacated by Peter Mueller. P.A. Parenteau, the more I’ve talked to him and others, is a right wing who isn’t going to feel all that comfortable if asked to play on the left side. He’d do it I’m sure, but he’s just much more comfortable on the right side.
I still don’t think Stastny will be traded yet, though. I could be proven wrong on that, but if the Avs were offering him around for a player like Ryan, I bet Anaheim would have already made that deal by now. To me, Anaheim would be foolish not to take Stastny if offered for Ryan. They need a center quite badly, and they can afford his $6.6 million cap hit. To pass up a player of his caliber for an unhappy Ryan would be just plain stupid.
My sense is that teams call the Avs and inquire about Stastny from time to time, but that the Avs are highly reluctant to move him. As much as he has frustrated fans with his up-and-down play the last couple of years, the fact remains: he’s still only 26, he’s scored 20 or more goals in three straight seasons and five of the six in his career. The only season he didn’t, 2007-08, he missed 37 games with injuries. He has 374 points in 427 career games.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2012/07/06/paul-stastny-traded/11037/
