O’Reilly-Duchene pair not healthy
Lcolumbus, ohio» ast week in his 41st game of the season, the midpoint of his first campaign with the Buffalo Sabres, center Ryan O’Reilly scored his 17th goal to match what he had in 82 games for the Avalanche last season.
Two nights later, the Avs’ Matt Duchene scored twice in his 43rd game to equal the 21 goals he amassed in all 82 games of 2014-15.
Impressive bounce-back years for O’Reilly and Duchene, the 2009 Colorado draftees who were joined at the hip to begin their NHL careers before veering off in opposite directions once their threeyear, entry-level contracts expired in 2012.
O’Reilly’s contract demands were considered too high — particularly after Duchene might have settled too low — and in the end, these guys just didn’t see eye to eye on much of anything outside the rink.
Separating them might have been the best thing for both, because clearly, making them sit next to each other in adjoining locker stalls on the road didn’t work. The Avs undoubtedly tried other team-bonding activities with these two, but any success was ultimately torn down with O’Reilly’s demands to far exceed Duchene’s in contract value and term.
The elephant was in the room, and ultimately O’Reilly was shipped off to Buffalo in a six-player trade that might have benefited Duchene as much as anybody.
“‘Factor’ was always a guy who came — when he was at the rink — he worked hard. And he was a good teammate, at the rink. He worked hard on the ice,” Duchene told me in October. “I think the biggest thing is, contract-wise, it just wasn’t working.”
O’Reilly and Duchene are still competing, just not on a daily basis. They both have hopes of making Canada’s World Cup of Hockey roster this summer.
Duchene beat out O’Reilly, among others, for the 2014 Canadian Olympic team, and to suggest this competition isn’t fierce would offend any Canadian hockey player.
In Colorado, it just wasn’t healthy.
D decisions. The Avalanche’s seemingly drastic blue-line personnel changes last week have to do with frustration and anticipation. Colorado is unhappy with its depth defensemen and eager to make a trade to address the problem.
But until the Avs can make a trade, they aren’t willing to keep things the same, which is why they demoted Brandon Gormley to the minors, put Nate Guenin on waivers, and recalled 20-year-olds Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras from San Antonio of the American Hockey League.
Zadorov and Bigras are future fixtures on this team who can come and go from San Antonio without being subject to the waiver wire. They represent exciting youth until the team can acquire a proven veteran — or two.
The Avs, however, are at a maximum 50 player contracts and must subtract as many as they add.