Buffalo Chapter In O'Reilly's Career About To Begin http://t.co/Hots3pfum0 pic.twitter.com/jsA1opgOcj
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) July 3, 2015
A former Colorado Avalanche middle man will soon be the #1 center of attention in Buffalo.
Sounds familiar, eh? Where have we heard that before?
It was 2007 and we were saying goodbye to captain Chris Drury. Eight years and a lot of heartache and suffering later, Ryan O'Reilly will be the next agent of change in Buffalo.
Tim Murray said Wednesday that based on his experience, he felt that the Ryan O'Reilly contract extension would be agree to in a matter of time. Murray said that he and O'Reilly's agent had exchanged contract proposals. The Buffalo News is reporting that the long term extension is done.
“I believe, through experience, we’re pretty close,… Murray said at the Jack Eichel introductory presser on Wednesday afternoon.
The experience that Murray may have been referring to is that O'Reilly and his new line mate Evander Kane share the same agent, Newport Sports. Murray landed Kane and Zach Bogosian in a blockbuster trade with the Winnipeg Jets in February.
O'Reilly's contract extension is expected to be an 7 year contract worth $7.5 million per season.
O'Reilly was guest on Sabres Hockey Hotline earlier this week and said that he was confident that an agreement with the Sabres would be reached in the near future.
On July 1, Murray and the Sabres were given the green light to negotiate the contract extension with the versatile power center's agent.
The days of contact acrimony are now gone for O'Reilly. He won't have to think about a contract negotiation until 2013 when he will be 32 years of age. What a relief it will be for "The Factor" to go to the rink and not have to worry about arm wrestling over every last penny with his employers like he had in Colorado.
Last summer, the Colorado Avalanche opted to take O'Reilly to team-elected arbitration. moments before the late-July 2014 arbitration hearing, the two side agreed on a two year, $12 million contract. O'Reilly earned $5.8 million last season and will earn $6.2 million next season.
The 6'0"" 210 pound O'Reilly is 24 years old and has already played 427 career games in the NHL (plus 13 playoff games) will be a permanent fixture in Buffalo's success for years to come. O'Reilly is a gritty, tenacious 200 by 85 foot terror for his opponents to have to deal with. He is a 53% faceoff man. He is one of the better puck possession centers in the NHL. The puck seems to stick to his blade like it's smeared with glue. O'Reilly kills penalties and plays the power play as well.
I'm thrilled to be welcomed into the @BuffaloSabres I've heard nothing but great things and I'm extremely excited to get started! #Sabres
— Ryan O'Reilly (@Ryan_OReilly90) June 27, 2015
O'Reilly was traded last Friday night at the NHL Draft along with power forward Jamie McGinn, in exchange for Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Zadorov, J.T. Compher and the #31 selection in the EichDavid draft.
O'Reilly played a huge role in Team Canada's gold medal win at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in Prague in May. It was there that He played with Sabres water bug Tyler Ennis. The two players found instant chemistry. When the tournament was over and the Canadians flew home with their gold medals, Tim Murray mashed the gas pedal to the floor in his hot pursuit of O'Reilly. The shared belief around the NHL was that the Colorado Avalanche management team would have to trade O'Reilly because they were comfortable having to pay him $64 million over 8 years. The Avs have those dollars already ear marked for their young super sniper Nathan MacKinnon. Matt Duchene is Colorado's #2 center and he earns $6 million per season. The Avs couldn't see paying their third line center in excess of $7 milllion per season. Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma has already said that O'Reilly will play a bigger leadership role on the Sabres as the team's #1 center which is a far cry from being a role player in Denver.
Murray read the tea leaves and immediately pounced on his opportunity to acquire O'Reilly. Trade rumors involving O'Reilly and Buffalo have been alive and kicking for years. I've been reporting in this space for the past three years that O'Reilly would eventually become a Buffalo Sabre. It was just a matter of time and it was well worth the wait.
I can see O'Reilly have a breakout season this year with Kane and Ennis on his wings. It's not outlandish to project a 220 to 240 point season from the Kane-O'Reilly-Ennis line this season
Perhaps Tim Murray will have a doubleheader press conference where Ryan and Cal O'Reilly each sign and discuss their new contracts with the Buffalo Sabres. Cal is said to have signed a two year, $1.4 million one way contract with the Sabres. He and Bobby Sanguinetti helped lead the Utica Cometsto the Calder Cup Finals last season.