Happy 4th Of July!
What will become of Ryan O’Reilly and the Colorado Avalanche?
NHL teams have until Saturday July 5 to make O'Reilly a jumbo-sized offer sheet similar to the one that then Calgary Flames GM Jay Feaster made to the RFA in early 2013 just after the end of the NHL lockout.
In June, Avs surprisngly filed for arbitration against O'Reilly, who earned $6.5 million last season. O’Reilly’s salary cap hit was $5 million in 2014. O'Reilly can opt to choose either a one- or two-year contract offer from the mediator and his salary for 2014-15 cannot be less than 85 percent of his last base salary. When you run the numbers, O’Reilly is due at least at $5.525 million.
Avalanche Exec VP of Hockey Ops has told the Denver Post that he is prepared to match any offer sheet that may find its way to O’Reilly’s agent’s desk. Sounds like O’Reilly and the Avs will be staying together for years to come, right? Not so fast. There exists a risk that if Sakic and O'Reilly’s agent cannot hammer out a new long term deal by July 15, the curious case of O’Reilly will be placed in the hands of an arbitrator. If it gets to that point, a hearing would have to occur before July 30.
Sakic’s attention is currently focused on getting O’Reilly re-signed. The Avs lost center Paul Stastny to the St. Louis Blues on Day 1 of the NHL UFA signing period. "We're going to focus on getting Ryan signed," Sakic said. "We want Ryan to be here, and be here a long time. Now that we're done with the draft and free agency, we'll be getting in contact with (Pat Morris, his agent)."
Stastny’s loss can be O’Reilly’s gain in that the Avs will not be on the hook to Stastny for his $6.6 million annual salary. Stastny signed in St. Loo for $7 million per season which was too rich for Sakic’s blood. One concludes that the Avs will fortfify O’Reilly with a portion of Stastny’s former annual salary. Whats more, O’Reilly can now move back to his natural center ice position now that Stastny is a Blue. Last season, Patrick Roy moved O’Reilly to the wing so that he could insert super rookie Nathan MacKinnon at center along with Matt Duchene and the aforementioned Stastny. O’Reilly humbly and cooperatively accepted his new assignment like a pro and experienced his best NHL scoring season with 28 goals and 36 assists. He added 2 goals and 4 assists in 7 playoff games.
On its surface, it appears as though O’Reilly and the Avs will remain married for years to come. Lets just see what tomorrow brings. The Avs want to re-sign him. He admires Patrick Roy and wants to stay and play with his Avs teammates. That’s all good. But, can the two sides find a mutually agreeable annual salary and term? Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog will be a cap hit of $5,571,429 for the next seven seasons and super center Matt Duchene will be a $6 million per season cap hit for the next five season. On Tuesday, Sakic signed his UFA buddy Jarome Iginla for $5,333,333 AAV for the next three seasons, while fellow UFA Danny Briere was signed for $ million on e one year deal.
Sakic and Patrick Roy are going to have to back up the Brinks truck to retain O’Reilly. He’s looking for a max term / max dollar deal. Are the Avs willing to pay O’Reilly $6.5+ million per season? That is the question. Mark my words: if the Avs get the yips and refuse to pay O’Reilly the $6.5 million that he earned in 2013, there will be 10-12 teams who will gladly pay “The Factor… that amount.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
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LA Kings captain Dustin Brown is a beautician.
Watch and listen as he chirps and face washes U.S. President Barack Obama, who is a devoted Chicago Blackhawks fan.
Obama called Brown for the second time in the past three seasons to congratulate the Kings on their recent Stanley Cup championship.
Brown doesn't care who he gets his lumber up on.
Thanks, NHL Network
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