Colorado Avalanche center Ryan O’Reilly sits at his locker after the team was defeated by the Minnesota Wild 5-4 in overtime in Denver on April 30, 2014. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
I’m getting more and more of these kinds of emails, just so Avalanche management knows:
Adrian:
I am a beyond huge Avs fan, and enjoy your articles on the team. This ongoing war (and sadly, mostly to the Avs fault that it is now a war) between O’Reilly and the team is sickening me, mostly because it was avoidable. Like you mentioned, the Avs could have taken care of this during the season, as they also could have done with Statsny, by signing him then.
There are two kinds of owners in professional sports: Those who are out to make a profit at all costs, or those who are trying to win a championship. Sadly, we clearly know which camp the Kroenke family is in. I can see owners who do not have deep pockets trying to save money because they do not have a lot to spend in the first place (i.e. Kansas City Royals, Buffalo Bills, etc.), but the Kroenke family has untold billions of dollars. Yet, they have this ridiculous cost-containment policy towards the Avs, and this will all but guarantee that they will not be winning a Stanley Cup anytime soon. This is all the more tragic because they have numerous budding young starts on this team, and they are about to lose one, O’Reilly, because of their cheap stubbornness. NHL revenues are up, and the cap is going up. They were 29th out of 30 (only the Islanders spent less money) in the NHL regarding payroll last year. (editor note: it was 28th actually). What happens when Nathan MacKinnon becomes one of the best, if not the best, player in the NHL in a couple of years? They will certainly have to pay him at least as much as Kane and Toews of the Blackhawks recently got, and yet, they probably won’t. I hope you write an article blasting their cheapness. They are cheating the fans.
Dan Johnson
swami23dan@aol.com
My comment: The Avs better get a damn good D-man in return for O’Reilly, is all I can say.
