Colorado RFA Ryan O’Reilly on the Trading Block, Could Boston shell out?

Mar 14, 2012; Buffalo, NY, USA; Colorado Avalanche center Ryan O

When the Boston Bruins dumped Tim Thomas it opened up 8+ million in salary space for the B’s, shortly after many people started throwing out different possibilities of trades the Bruins could make with their new found salary cap space. Some of the names include Jarome Iginla, Bobby Ryan, and Ryan Getzlaf. However one name that hasn’t been thrown around at all outside of Colorado.. is Ryan O’Reilly.

The Colorado Avalanche (O’Reilly’s team) recently announced they may be trading O’Reilly if they cannot settle this contract dispute. Currently a RFA, O’Reilly was refused captaincy and also his agent is saying his 2011-12 season (18-37=55) was his breakout year. As a defensive centre, I’ll give him the benefit out the doubt for his production; but to ask..no demand  captaincy as part of your contract is a little low, although some are saying that the Avs might have offered him the captaincy first and took it back when contract talks fell through.

Whatever the case may be, O’Reilly may work well on the third line with Rich Peverly and Chris Kelly and be able to bounce between bottom 6 and maybe even top 6 duties as a member of the Bruins if he comes over. Chris Bourque certainly has shown improvement recently with his patience and puck moving, however adding an already established NHL forward in that position wouldn’t be too bad of an idea for the Bruins. O’Reilly had 4 PPG and 11 PPA as a member of the Avalanche last year, and every little bit will help with the Bruins and their struggling powerplay.

But talking about O’Reilly brings up a very important question, who will the Boston Bruins give up for O’Reilly. I would think the Avalanche would want something in return for giving up their defensive centre. Jordan Caron and a hand full of draft picks seems the most likely if Peter Chiarelli doesn’t wanna break up his team’s core chemistry. Then again if all else fails the Bruins can tender qualifying offer and if the Av’s refuse to match, they could add O’Reilly that way.

Only  time will tell for the Bruins, I am a little hopeful that the Bruins will add him; but this might all be wishful thinking.

All salary cap information provided by CapGeek.com