Colorado Avalanche fans won’t have to wait long to see newly re-signed forward Ryan O’Reilly in action.
After practicing with the team yesterday, coach Joe Sacco says O’Reilly will play this afternoon against Columbus and will play on the third line with John Mitchell and Milan Hejduk. Adrian Dater of The Denver Post gets the coach’s explanation as to why.
“I like the way the other two lines played the other night; they really had some good production. So we’ll put him with Mitchell, who’s got some offensive potential; and we all know Milan’s history. So, it should be a good fit,” Sacco said.
Just for the record, that makes O’Reilly a third line center making $5 million a year against the cap. Obviously he wasn’t going to be thrown right into top-six forward work with how well Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny have played so far this season, but making the team stronger up the middle is a good thing.
As of now, the Avalanche sit four points back of eighth place Nashville in the West. Now would be a good time to earn the new paycheck.