Soderberg Traded To Avs To Replace O'Reilly?

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Are the Colorado Avalanche preparing for life without forward Ryan O'Reilly?

Joe Sakic has made a strategic trade in acquiring forward Carl Soderberg from the Boston Bruins in exchange for a sixth-round selection in the 2016 NHL Draft (previously acquired from Boston in exchange for Max Talbot).

Soderberg is a left handed center. O'Reilly is a left handed center.

Coincidence?

Soderberg will become UFA on July 1. Teams were given permission today to speak with pending UFA's.

Soderberg, who will turn 30 in October, appeared in all 82 games for the Bruins this past season.

He was third in scoring on the 2014-15 Bruins team which failed to qualify for teh playoffs. Soderberg scored 13 goals and added 31 assists, and, was also +10. The Malmo, Sweden native scored five power-play goals, tied for second on the Bruins. Soderberg was originally selected by the St. Louis in the second round (49th overall) of the 2004 Entry Draft.

Soderberg spent his entire career playing in the Swedish Elite League before joining the Bruins at the end of the 2012-13 season. During his first full NHL season in 2013-14, Soderberg recorded 48 points (16G, 32A) in 73 games. He was acquired by Boston from St. Louis in exchange for Hannu Toivonen on July 23, 2007. The 6-foot-3, 216-pound forward has appeared in 161 career NHL games, totaling 94 points (29G, 65A). He has also added six points (1G, 5A)) in 14 playoff contests.

Should the Avalanche trade Ryan O'Reilly to Buffalo, Sakic and Roy should demand that Mikhail Grigorenko be included in the deal. Grigorenko would give the Avs all the more center depth moving forward.

Avs center depth: L1 MacKinnon L2 Duchene L3 Soderberg L4 Mitchell/Cliche *Briere likely to retire Could use more depth at C Grigo, CoHo

— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) June 25, 2015

**

It's official. Jack Eichel will tell the Buffalo Sabres Friday that he is turning pro. The team that drafts him (insert Buffalo Sabres here) will learn his decision after he is selected second overall at the NHL Draft.

Eichel met with media on Thursday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale.

He said:

"If it is Buffalo, I'll work really hard to prepare & potentially play there."

See ya later, Boston University. Jack will be back next summer when he takes classes on his down time.

Eichel says he's made decision on whether he'd like to go pro next year, will have decision for team that drafts him. pic.twitter.com/H9mHvnG6ga

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) June 25, 2015

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Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos tweeted this afternoon that Ryan O'Reilly will most likely be on his way out of Denver soon. O'Reilly is said to be looking for a max out contract in the 7 year, $60 million range.

O'Reilly's nickname is "The Factor".

Max. Factor.

My take: I feel strongly that O'Reilly is worth every penny of $7.5 million per season over 7 seasons.

O'Reilly is a throw back player to a by gone era. You won't find a more dogged, determined, driven, defensive minded forward than O'Reilly. He is a relentless player who opponents loathe playing against. In many ways, he is Michael Peca with 30-35 goals and 80 points in his stick. In 427 career regular season games in Colorado, O'Reilly has scored 90 goals and has added 156 assists. He is versatile in that he plays center and wing. He is one of the best special teams workers in the NHL. He is only 24 years old and has already played 6 seasons in the NHL. In my opinion, his best work and production years lie ahead of him.

I love how Tyler Ennis and O'Reilly played together at times on Team Canada's gold medal winning team at the IIHF World Championships in Prague last month. Food for thought for a future Sabres line.

If it takes trading #21, Nikita Zadorov, and Mikhail Grigorenko to Colorado in exchange for O'Reilly, then so be it.

O'Reilly has one year remaining ($6.2 million) on his current deal. The Avalanche are not thrilled with the idea of paying ROR north of $7 million per season to stay in the Rockies. Nathan MacKinnon has one year left on his entry level deal and will be looking for a contract extension in the 8 year, $72 million dollar range. The Avs will go there wity MacKinnon, not O'Reilly. Matt Duchene is already a $6 million cap hit. Paul Stastny left Colorado last summer for St. Louis, where he signed a four-year deal with a cap hit of $7 million.

O’Reilly can’t sign a contract extension until July 1. The Buffalo Sabres would no doubt negotiate the $60M contract extension well in advance of any trade. O'Reilly is represented by the same agency as newly acquired power forward Evander Kane. Murray and the agent would cement a deal before executing any trade for ROR.

Sabres GM Tim Murray has the two things that ROR and his camp demand from a trade partner:

1. Cap space. The Sabres enter the draft with $27 million in salary cap space.

2. TOI. Dan Bylsma would play O'Reilly in Buffalo's top six forward group either as a center on on the wing. Bylsma would also sleep well at night knowing that ROR would be a lock down PKer and an above average PP contributor.

***

Jack Eichel-Evander Kane Era Begins On October 8 In Buffalo http://t.co/meuTCpiCwY pic.twitter.com/Hoegns6R0I

— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) June 25, 2015

The Jack Eichel-Evander Kane-Samson Reinhart Era will begin in Buffalo at approximately 7:30pm EDT Friday night when the generational centerman pulls a #15 Sabres sweater on and doffs his Blue & Gold ball cap to the crowd.

It's a new season, with new generational and highly touted young stars, and a new energy for the Sabres.

Death to the Tank.

THANK THE HOCKEY GODS!

The 2015-16 NHL schedule has been released.

Eichel and the Sabres will play Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday 12/6/15.

McDavid and the Oil will visit Eichel and the Sabres on Tuesday 3/1/16.

Dan Bylsma will coach against the Pittsburgh Penguins, for the first time when Buffalo goes to Pittsburgh on Oct. 29.

Tux-N-Pux is slated for when the Islanders invade Buffalo on New Year’s Eve.

Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian will see their old team, the Winnipeg Jets, for the first time on Sunday, Jan. 10 when Buffalo travels to Manitoba.

Among the highlights of the schedule are the team’s 10 afternoon games at First Niagara Center in 2015-16, including seven Saturday games with a 1 p.m. puck drop.

The Sabres open their season at home on Thursday, Oct. 8 against the Ottawa Senators in the first of three consecutive home games, marking Buffalo’s longest home stand of the season. Two days later, the team will host the reigning Eastern Conference champions, as the Tampa Bay Lightning visit First Niagara Center for Buffalo’s first of 10 afternoon home games in 2015-16.

Following another afternoon home game on Columbus Day (Monday, Oct. 12) against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team will head to Florida and Tampa Bay for their first two road games of the season. With two more home dates against divisional rivals (Toronto and Montreal) immediately following the Florida trip, the Sabres will face Atlantic Division opponents in six of the team’s first seven games.

After opening the season with three straight home games, the Sabres have six more three-game home stands throughout the season, the next of which occurs from Oct. 21 to 24. The longest stretch of away games for the team is also three, with the first of four such road trips taking place from Dec. 6 to 10 in Western Canada.

Other highlights from the Sabres’ 2015-16 home schedule:

22 total weekend home games (9 Fridays; 11 Saturdays; 2 Sundays) Three holiday home games (Columbus Day; Thanksgiving Eve; New Year’s Eve) Two home games against Toronto (Wed., Oct. 21; Thu., Mar. 31) Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks visit Buffalo Sat., Dec. 19

Courtesy Buffalo Sabres