McKenzie: Avalanche targeting potential trade fits for O'Reilly

Bob McKenzie was on NBCSN's NHL Live on Wednesday evening.

On if the Avs are actively shopping Ryan O’Reilly:

“That’s a difficult one because for the longest time I couldn’t get a real handle on where it was at. Here’s my understanding of it. They are not shopping Ryan O’Reilly. They are not auctioning him off to everybody in the league saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a guy here who is a terrific 200-foot center who has a year left on his deal at $6.2 million and then he’s unrestricted. Do we want to pay him that much money long-term?’

“What they’re saying is they’re identifying some teams they think might be a real good fit that have some assets. They’re looking for defense. They need help on the blueline. They’ve got some depth up front with guys like Duchene and Landeskog, but they need help on the blueline and Ryan O’Reilly will likely get them that.

“Everybody in hockey assumes it’s a given that Ryan O’Reilly will be traded before he gets into that final year in the summer. So there’s nothing that says Ryan O’Reilly’s got to be traded between now and the deadline. But I think the Colorado Avalanche, they’re certainly looking and gauging and seeing what the return would be right now.”

Source: NBCSN/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

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Nichols on Hockey

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