Dater at All Things Avs…

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.

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Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 02/13/13 at 12:20 AM ET

Quincey + Nyquist

Posted by LivinLaVidaLockout on 02/13/13 at 12:58 AM ET

^ LOL.

There’s no way Nyquist gets moved, and do you remember where we acquired Quincey from? No chance that the Avs take him back.

When you think of the fact that Datsyuk could be gone in a couple years, we’ll need a bonafide Top 6 center.

If everyone was healthy: Tatar + Emmerton/Abby + Samuelsson

Posted by DrewBehr from The Mitten on 02/13/13 at 02:21 AM ET

Quincey + Nyquist

Quincey is a Wing because he sulked his way out of Denver when he didn’t get to be the featured guy over Johnson and Hejda (one trade and one big FA acquisitions, getting money, team building for the future = higher priority than Q even though he was probably playing better somehow).

That said;  I highly doubt the wings are giving up Nyquist any time soon.  I have to think that he, Järnkrok and Tatar are all NHL players next year (but I have been wrong before; I thought surely Nyquist was an NHLer this year, too).

Posted by shanetx from Floydada, Texas on 02/13/13 at 05:12 AM ET

Here’s the thing that’s odd about this. If the TSN pundits are accurate with the numbers they’ve heard coming from the Avs… those are pretty good offers. It makes perfect sense that the Avs would want O’Reilly to have a short RFA deal akin to the Duchene deal. For crying out loud, even his last season that people are making out to be so good was 18 goals and 55 points. Of course I know there’s more to his game as an all-around player that can contribute defensively and even on the PK. But Duchene has already had two seasons more offensively productive.

O’Reilly may be right to want out, but I have to think if he wants out, it’s for some reason other than money, because the money being offered (again, if the MSM pundits are right) seems to be totally fair.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 02/13/13 at 09:07 AM ET