Ryan O’Reilly Traded to Buffalo
The biggest story involving the Colorado Avalanche this season is the trade that sent longtime Avs forward Ryan O’Reilly to the Buffalo Sabres. Drafted in the second round of the 2009 draft, O’Reilly immediately became an integral piece of the Avalanche system. In 427 games for Colorado, over the span of six seasons, O’Reilly tallied 90 goals and 156 assists. O’Reilly, or “Factor” as he was known in the dressing room, was a highly skilled, two-way center that could not agree on contract terms with the Colorado front office and essentially forced the team to trade him. The Avalanche had to do so if they wanted to gain any value out of his departure, rather than losing him to free agency and getting nothing in return. On draft day in June of this year, the trade was complete. O’Reilly was headed to Buffalo along with Jamie McGinn in exchange for defenseman Nikita Zadorov, forwards Mikail Grigorenko and J.T. Compher and a draft pick. After several contract disuputes and difficulties between the Avalanche and O’Reilly over the years, the Avalanche removed a major weight off their chest by completing the trade. They lost one of the league’s most effective centers, but were able to get some value in return and had a dressing room full of players who are happy to be here. The Ryan O’Reilly trade was big news nationally, considering the rarity of a star player being traded, and therefore was the number one story surrounding the Avalanche in 2015.
