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Connor McDavid is in a zone the likes of which he has never been before. On Wednesday night, I spoke with the #1 pick in the 2015 NHL draft in the media room at Erie Insurance Arena. He had just scored four goals and added two assists in the Otters 8-4 win over Guelph. I asked McDavid about his 11 points in his past two games. He scored five points the Saturday before.
"I've been feeling good. I've been getting my chances".
Ya think?
That was the understatement of the century. McDavid is a man on a mission right now. He has the Midas Touch. Everything he touches is turning to gold. He's been carrying hos entire team on his shoulders in the quest to win the OHL Western Conference. He wants to win a Memorial Cup to go along ith the WJC gold medial that he earned for Team Canada in January. I asked him if he is feeling pressure with the growing expectations to win in Erie, win the Erie Otters team scoring record, and to be the #1 pick in the NHL draft.
"It is a lot to deal with and its an exciting time in an exciting year. I wouldn't want it any other way. That's what you live for. We are getting into very exciting time and I'm looking to enjoy it".
On Friday night, McDavid added another notch to his gun belt by becoming a 100 point scorer. Its amzing to think about what he has accomplished this season. He missed 20 games with his broken hand and with his WJC commitments.
Connor Brown scores a franchise record 128 points last season. McDavid is on such a scoring tear that he is going to surpass that plateau in the next 11 games of the regular season.
In Owen Sound tonight, McDavid scored a goal and added an assist. He now has 100 points in just 38 games played.
He's averaging 2.6 points per game and he cannot be stopped. Teams can only hope to contain him. When McDavid is not killing enemies, his bros Dylan and Strome and Nick Baptiste are doing the scoring. What a great team!
When I told him that he's got a great chance to catch and pass Connor Brown for teh franchise scoring record he told me:
"That's a big number... that's a ways down the road here.I guess time is of the essence and I have to play my game. Two good games doesn't mean that I know its going to happen. He (Connor Brown) set a pretty big number (128 pts) and set the bar high. Stromer is closer right now so I think Stromer is going to chase it down pretty good".
That response is trademark McDavid: Team-first.
With two assists Friday night, Strome now has 35 goals and 71 assists in 58 games played. He has six more points than McDavid having played in 20 more games.
Great kid. Great player.
Congratulations, @cmcdavid97! 37 goals and 63 assists for 100 points in 38 games! pic.twitter.com/X5PGAurthJ
— Erie Otters (@ErieOtters) February 28, 2015***
We haven't heard from O'Reilly on that matter in recent weeks. He's busy trying to lead his teammates to a Western Conference wild card playoff berth. The Avs enter Friday night's action with 63 points, 7 points behind the second wild card spot. Its tough sledding ahead for Colorado as five teams stand between them and the final wild card berth with 21 games to play. The odds of the Avs making the playoffs are slim to none. ROR's isn't ready to surrender and fly his while flag right now. He's riding O'Reilly like his life depended on it in an effort to spark the rest of his roster.
The Colorado Avalanche will play two games between now and the NHL trade deadline. They visit the Dallas Stars tonight and host the Minnesota Wild Saturday night.
Will these be the last two games of Ryan O'Reilly's illustrious career in Denver?
If its up to Avs head coach Patrick Roy, the answer is an emphatic NO. Roy is a huge fan of O'Reilly's. On Thursday, the Avs head coach extolled the virtues of having a versatile player like ROR on his roster. Roy is as transparent an NHL coach as you'll ever find. He wants O'Reilly to stay and be a part of the future success in Denver for years to come.
The question that I long have had is whether or not O'Reilly wants to stay in Denver what with the ugly, acrimonious public contract disputes. The Calgary offer sheet was one thing. The team-elected arbitration hearing last summer was entirely another. In both cases, the 24 year old center was dragged through the mud by his organization. The same organization where Roy is a member of the management team. Roy also is the team's head coach. I can't blame Roy for wanting his cake and eating it too. What NHL GM would want to say goodbye with one of the top three two-way centers in the NHL before he enters the prime years of his career? Ryan O'Reilly belongs in the same discussion as Jonathon Toews, Anze Kopitar and Patrice Bergeron in that he is an above average 200 foot center who can impact a game all by himself because he owns the defensive side of the puck.
“Well, I certainly could comment on that. Every night I’ve been using him a lot. Yes, I use him on important faceoffs, penalty killing, power play, 5-on-5, against top lines. I’m having a lot of trust in him. I’d be very surprised if we do a trade with Ryan O’Reilly.“The contract dispute to me is just the business side. For me as a coach, I push that aside. It’s not even important. Even for Joe, we’re not making a big deal out of that. I know that it seems to be a big deal, but obviously when you see a guy like him becoming UFA at the end of next year... it forced Joe to look into it. But it’s not in our intention to move Ryan O’Reilly. Actually, we’d love to see Ryan O’Reilly be an Avalanche for a long time. Joe has spoke to his agent a bit in the last few days and yes we’d like to have Ryan signing a long-term deal.
“It’s a tough business. Gretzky’s been traded. I’ve been traded. Trades are always part of, unfortunately they are part of the game. But I don’t see how we could trade a guy like him right now, quite honestly. He’s part of the core of the team. We like him a lot. That line’s been playing really well. We’re very happy with that. Even if we don’t have the season that we want, we like the core of this team. We believe in the core of this team and I don’t see us making huge change in the core of our team.…
O'Reilly signed a 2 year $12 million contract last summer. He will need to be qualified at $6.5 million on a long term contract extension to stay with the Avs. That means Roy and Joe Sakic will have to be prepared to offer O'Reilly a max-out, eight year contract that totals $52-$56 million in order to retain his services. The Avs were not fans of having to pay ROR $6 million per season. They aren't going to be thrilled to have to pay him $6.5-$7 million per season for 8 seasons. Nathan MacKinnon is now the face of teh franchise and he will become RFA next summer. MacKinnon is already earmarked to earn $7.5-$8 million per season for 8 seasons when his new contract activates for the 2017-18 season. Furthermore, Matt Duchene ($6M AAV) and Gabriel Landeskog ($4.5M AAV) have contracts that will expire after the 2018-19 season. They too will need to be re-signed to new, multi-year contract extensions.
As much as Roy wants to keep O'Reilly, its just not economical and feasible for him to do so. The Avs have a backend that is beat up and short on talent. Roy and Sakic are going to have to address their D corps and add difference making vets if they plan to make a run to the Cup anytime soon.
Not many NHL teams have the currency to shop for ROR. Tim Murray and the Buffalo Sabres have the assets in the form of roster players, draft picks and prospects to close a deal with Roy and Sakic for O'Reilly.
The NHL trade deadline is Monday at 3pm. Will O'Reilly remain a Colorado Avalanche?
My thought is that if he's not dealt by the trade deadline he will be traded this summer at the NHL draft.
Patrick Roy Talks Openly About Ryan http://t.co/l7sEI8emTg via @po_st
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) February 27, 2015
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Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving told Sportsnet 69o radio on Friday he is making a lot of calls to GMs around the NHL in the hopes that he can be aggressive at Monday's NHL trade deadline.
“I wouldn’t say I’m close. Things can change. We’re talking. There’s lots of conversations going on,… said Treliving. “Are we imminent? We hope; we expect and anticipate to get some business done. But again, I don’t know. You need somebody to say yes on the other line too.
“So we’re going to be as aggressive as we can. We’ll see where that gets us.…
One such player that the Flames have had on their radar is Buffalo's ultra-aggressive power winger Chris Stewart.
Treliving will have to be aggressive in order to cozy up to a deal for Stewart. There are multiple NHL teams in the scrum looking to take Stewart home to their organization from Buffalo. Those teams include Boston, Winnipeg, Dallas, Nashville, Montreal, Florida, and Minnesota.
Sabres GM Tim Murray is not going to be giving Stewart away to any suitor who calls him. Its going to take an "B+ or A-" rated prospect and a roster player in order to secure Stewart, who will be UFA this summer. Treliving also has to fortify his D corps to prevent any slippage in his team's play due to the shoulder injury of his captain Mark Giordano. The Flames captain was injured the other night against the NY Rangers. The team kept quiet about his injury until Giordano. There was speculation that his injury would force him out of the lineup long term. Giordano shocked the hockey world when he took the pregame skate vs. NY Islanders on Friday night. He was a healthy scratch on Long Island and according to reports appeared to be day to day rather than long term.
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