Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Is the Avs - O’Reilly relationship beyond repair?

Colorado Avalanche v Minnesota Wild - Game Three

ST PAUL, MN - APRIL 21: Ryan O’Reilly #90 of the Colorado Avalanche looks on in Game Three of the First Round of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Minnesota Wild on April 21, 2014 at Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Ryan O’Reilly and the Colorado Avalanche seem like they’re on a crash course toward what could be a very contentious salary arbitration session, but the Denver Post’s Adrian Dater wonders how much a one or two-year deal might really resolve.

(Beyond the obvious benefit of keeping a very good player around longer, of course).

Dater lays out the two sides in rather unflattering ways, believing that O’Reilly is angling for every cent he can get in a longer deal - maybe in a cavalier way, as a lot can happen in the season or two before he’d potentially hit unrestricted free agency - while the Avalanche might be guilty of losing track of the big picture.

In other words, the team and player seem stuck in the same negotiating loop they found themselves in two years ago.

Dater’s prediction, in particular, is quite grim:

My prediction remains the same: the Avs will keep him only so long as they don’t get a great trade offer for him. There is no question, though, that they have to trade him within two years if they know they can’t sign him. O’Reilly controls the cards on that if he wants. He can reject all offers by Colorado, with the mindset of “They never valued me for what I was really worth, so screw them, I’ll leave in two years max” and essentially force the Avs to trade him before then. Otherwise, he’ll leave for nothing. Just like Paul Stastny did.

At least it’s too late for an offer sheet situation to add even more drama to the proceedings, but it presents a conundrum nonetheless.

The Avalanche may face the toughest questions. Would they be better off trading the young two-way forward now rather than dragging this situation out? Is there any way they can rebuild a bridge that, if you ask many, was burned in a big way?

Even if O’Reilly walks when he gets the chance as Dater predicts, the Avs at least have some short-term motivation to keep him around for a little longer.

The Avalanche essentially swapped younger legs (Paul Stastny, P.A. Parenteau) for experienced players who might need sheltered roles (Jarome Iginla, Daniel Briere) this summer, so keeping a borderline Selke-caliber player around could make a big difference in 2014-15.

From the sound of things, this might all end a bit ugly. It’s just a matter of how much longer the “middle” portion of this story might be.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins