Friedman sees Avalanche trading O'Reilly "before next season"

Elliotte Friedman was on Toronto’s Sportsnet 590 on Friday morning.

On Ryan O’Reilly’s availability, and how a lot of Leafs fans would like him:

“Well, there’s no doubt he’s available and I would be surprised if he isn’t traded before next season. The really tricky thing about O’Reilly is his signability. You talk about guys that are difficult to sign, you don’t know what their future is, O’Reilly is that guy.

“I was talking to one general manager last week who I think would have interest in him, and he said the biggest thing I’d want to know is, ‘What are my chances of signing him before I trade for him?’

“Simply because he’s had some pretty big battles with Colorado.

“There’s no doubt the guy is a good player. He’s a guy who can move up and down your lineup. You can use him as your No. 1 center if you’ve got a couple of scoring wingers. You can use him as your No. 2 or 3 center, if you really want to do that, although you’re probably not going to for the money that he can make.

“I think the Avalanche want defensemen with term. The other issue there is simply that if you’re going to give up a guy with term, you want some thought that O’Reilly is going to commit to you too.

“I think Toronto would absolutely be interested. I think there would be 25 teams that would be interested. The question just comes down to can you sign him, and what is it going to cost to do it.”

Source: Sportsnet 590/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

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