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‘It’s gotten ugly,’ says Avs player on O’Reilly contract disupte

Ryan O'Reilly

Colorado players are starting to appear resigned to the fact Ryan O’Reilly has worn an Avalanche jersey for the last time.

O’Reilly -- a 22-year-old restricted free agent forward that scored a team high 55 points last season -- is currently mired in a contract dispute with the Avs.

Lately, it seems more and more likely the end result of the dispute will be a trade.

This morning, Colorado defenseman Shane O’Brien, who considers O’Reilly one of his closest friends, told the Denver Post that the situation isn’t great, but it’s “the business we live in.”

“He’s making a decision maybe he’ll regret. Maybe he won’t,” said O’Brien. “It all depends on how it works out for him. It’s the bad side of hockey, the business side that no one likes. But I can see both sides of the dilemma . . . It’s gotten ugly. It sucks, definitely sucks, but it is what it is and we’re going to move forward as a group. We got a good group in here. We’re going to stick together, work our way out of this and hopefully start winning some hockey games.”

Related: Avs defenseman Johnson (head) out indefinitely