The Ryan O’Reilly/Colorado Avalanche contract negotiations were a slog. There’s no other way to say it. He was finally traded to the Buffalo Sabres this past off season to end that difficult chapter for the Avalanche. Mike Chambers of the Denver Post talked to O’Reilly’s former teammate Matt Duchene on the matter, and Duchene kept largely to the hockey code of talking in cliches without really saying anything. But he left some room for interpretation.
As Chambers did, we will also give you the full quote from Duchene when asked about O’Reilly’s third contract negotiation:
“First off, I think we got two outstanding players (in return). Factor was always a guy who came — when he was at the rink — he worked hard. And he was a good teammate, at the rink. He worked hard on the ice. I think the biggest thing is, contract-wise, it just wasn’t working. Obviously the management has a plan for this team and you see it with EJ’s deal — EJ fell under that plan and is thrilled with it. He really wants to be here and he made it happen. They found a great deal for him and we’re all thrilled with it. That just wasn’t happening on that end, with O’Reilly. It just wasn’t coming together with O’Reilly. I wasn’t in the room. Obviously, I don’t know what went down. But they obviously felt the numbers didn’t work for us to keep a good core of guys together and be able to add guys over the off-season, guys like Beauch (Francios Beauchemin), you know? We needed money to sign him. If you give one guy too much or whatever it takes away from the rest of the team … Like I said, I wasn’t in the room and it’s not even my business. But I think they made a great trade. The guys we got are awesome. They look really good so far. We’re moving on.”
Chambers goes on to make some responsible guesses, if not so much assumptions, as to the relationship between Duchene and O’Reilly and where it went wrong. But the quote itself comes off as slightly passive aggressive and it sounds like Duchene would have preferred that O’Reilly take a team friendly contract and stayed in Colorado. (Especially when it comes to the part about “EJ” … Erik Johnson … who Duchene noted was thrilled with his deal in a quote that comes off as “why can’t you be more like your brother”.) Sorry Matt, but that’s just not realistic. O’Reilly did what he felt was right for him, and there was a team willing to pay the man what he thought he was worth. Good for him. Duchene did what was right for him and that’s taking the deal he took to stay in Colorado. Different strokes, right?
Now whether Matt Duchene’s agent, or the Avalanche front office, or Sabres fans or anybody out there feel that O’Reilly is overpaid or worth the money he got in Buffalo is a completely different conversation. But it’s pie in the sky to expect everybody to be happy leaving money on the table to fit under the cap to remain with their original team. I myself would have loved Carl Hagelin to take about a million and a half less to convince the Rangers to keep him under the cap but that’s unfair to Hagelin, and he’s in a good situation with Anaheim. Perhaps O’Reilly’s constant negotiating was a drag, but the infer or imply that those negotiations made Ryan O’Reilly the person a detriment is a touch unfair. He’s just doing what was right for him. But hopefully what’s done is done and everybody can move on.
