The Ryan O’Reilly saga appeared to be a slow unraveling situation in Colorado leading up to the forward’s trade to Buffalo, but a recent report suggests that everything went according to plan for the Avalanche. As seen over in the Denver Post, the Avalanche reportedly planned to move O’Reilly and replace him with Carl Soderberg.
It was really no surprise that O’Reilly and the Avs eventually parted ways, but it is pretty interesting to see the team come out and directly state that Player A (Soderberg) is the replacement for Player B (O’Reilly).
Via the Denver Post:
The Avs told Soderberg he was the planned replacement for Ryan O’Reilly, who was dealt to the Buffalo Sabres on June 27 in a four-player trade. That and not having to play the free-agency game made Soderberg’s choice easy.
“I just didn’t want to go through it, and when Joe and Patrick said they were interested in me, I wanted to go to Colorado right away,” he said.
It seems a bit silly to tell 29-year-old Soderberg, a player with career bests of 16 goals and 48 points in a season, that he’s a direct replacement for the 24-year-old O’Reilly, a player with career bests of 28 goals and 64 points in a season. Aside from forcing fans to make unfair, direct comparisons, it loads a ton of pressure on to Soderberg’s shoulders.
Perhaps a better question is to ask whether the Avs’ return on O’Reilly and their Soderberg acquisition represent an overall upgrade, but that’s a point to discuss in a much longer article.
