Hockey Trade Rumors

Darren Dreger of TSN reported tonight the Avs are asking for a “roster player and a top prospect.” That sounds about right. The Avs will not confirm that’s what they are asking for. They won’t confirm much of anything right now. They have gone into bunker mentality mode on the Factor.

There is a lot more to this story, but until O’Reilly is traded, I’m kind of bound by an agreement not to report anything until then. Sorry. Really, I’m amazed this all happened. A 22-year-old heart-and-soul, two-way center, an absolute rink rat who loved Denver and loved the Avalanche wound up being the final unsigned big-name restricted free agent in the NHL. Really, it’s unbelievable.

There are so many questions left to be answered/resolved with this story. Not to get all negative – because I know how some get all sensitive to that – but it really must be asked: do the Avs have a major problem with the way they do business with their players now? Look at all the good players who – even after giving a lot to this team on and off the ice – things end really badly and they are either traded or released, often to disastrous results.

I give you, among others, Craig Anderson. I’m not going to re-litegate the whole thing here, but there was a guy who had a great year for the Avs, got what he felt was a lowball offer to re-sign, the Avs made no attempt to negotiate off their only offer, things got a little personal and Anderson was dealt away for Brian Elliott.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2013/02/12/ryan-oreillys-days-as-an-av-look-to-be-over/12550/