The Colorado Avalanche are reportedly listening to offers for Ryan O’Reilly and they’re believed to be looking for help on defense. O’Reilly’s name has been involved in trade rumors for quite some time, but to date the Avalanche have retained their forward. That may now change due to the fact the Avs are reportedly moving on from Jan Hejda and Ryan Wilson and they’re looking for a major change on defense.
Teams listen to offers all the time and O’Reilly has been linked to several trades in the past. What makes this report any different? It may all come down to motivation and timing. Previously, the Avs shopped O’Reilly but they never really seemed to have a set return in mind. They listened to offers, but there never appeared to be a clear plan or an ideal asset the Avalanche wanted that would’ve made a trade happen. Things are different now that the Avs are making a big change on defense and want to add a new piece(s) to go along with Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie.
O’Reilly carries a cap hit of $6 million in 2015-16, but at just 24, he’s an exciting young talent that plenty of teams are going to be interested in. The contract might be a bit pricey given O’Reilly’s 17-goal performance in 2014-15, but he’s capable of some impressive offensive totals as seen in 2013-14 when he scored 28 times and had 64 points.
Which teams would be interested in O’Reilly? That list is probably a lengthy one and it hasn’t been reported which teams have extended offers, but now some guesses can be crafted if the Avs really are looking for help on defense. A team such as the St. Louis Blues have several young defensemen and though they’re moving on from Barret Jackman, there are still enough options that they might be able to package together a deal which might finally move O’Reilly out of Colorado. The Avs may not be interested in any pieces the Blues could offer, but a team would likely have to offer at least one young defenseman in a package deal in order to land O’Reilly.
Stay tuned. Will the Avalanche actually move O’Reilly or will the strange Avs-O’Reilly relationship continue?
