Ryan O’Reilly (Karl Gehring/The Denver Post)
At the Avalanche-Winnipeg game Thursday, I was among three reporters speaking with GM Joe Sakic, and I used his comments in the featurized that night and also in a .
In the former, Sakic reiterated that the Avalanche would try to sign Ryan O’Reilly to a contract extension in the offseason.
Here’s that passage:
Center Ryan O’Reilly has one season remaining on his two-year, $12 million contract. Sakic reiterated that the Avalanche would try to sign O’Reilly to an extension this summer.
“After the year is over, we will be in contact with his people,” Sakic said, “and we are going to try to re-sign Ryan. We like Ryan a lot. We feel he’s valuable and he’s one of our core guys. … He doesn’t need it, we don’t need it, no one needs the distractions of going through the season (as a possible unrestricted free agent in July 2016), so we’re going to try to get it done.”
Would O’Reilly be on the market if he isn’t re-signed to an extension?
“I’m not going to put a deadline on it,” Sakic said, “but I want him signed before next season starts, let’s put it that way.”
I again asked O’Reilly about that situation. Here’s what he said (and none of this is surprising): “I’m really just trying to finish the season and finish it strong. I’ve always kind of been that way. Once I’m in a season, I just play. Once I get to the summer, that’s when we negotiate and it’s a contract thing. I leave the business part as the business part and the hockey part as the hockey part. It’s something we’ll visit and will be excited to do.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
