After signing Carl Soderberg to his new contract extension, it was more likely that Ryan O’Reilly was on his way out in Colorado. After a few years of drama felt seasons in Colorado, they finally pulled the trigger and traded him. The Colorado Avalanche traded Ryan O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn to the Buffalo Sabres for Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, J.T Compher and the 31st pick in the NHL draft.
Last season for the Avalanche O’Reilly scored 17 goals and recorded 38 assists, with a plus-minus of minus five. It has been a crazy six seasons for O’Reilly in an Avalanche uniform as his name has been brought up in trade rumors almost every season. He also left to sign with the Calgary Flames signing an offer sheet with them, since O’Reilly was a restricted free agent at the time, but Colorado matched the offer keeping him as a member of the Avalanche.
Even though O’Reilly has been a headache the past few years, there is still an upside to O Reilly. He is a great faceoff taker, passer and doesn't look past his ability to shoot the puck. He can score but his main strength is passing the puck and his ability to get a lot of assists. He is known to getting 15 plus assists every season. He is also good on power play situations and on the penalty kills.
Buffalo is getting a great top-two center in O’Reilly; maybe getting him out of Colorado will be a good thing for him. In Buffalo, O’Reilly will have a chance to become the first or second line center. He will get to work with good young talented wingers like Tyler Ennis. He is going to be a fit in the Sabres rebuilding plans since he is only 24-years old. They are also getting a good depth player in McGinn.
Colorado finally gets rid of the headache that was Ryan O’Reilly; they are getting some pretty talented prospects in return in Zadorov and Grigorenko. They are both two of the Sabres top prospects for a good reason. Zadorov and Grigorenko are franchise type players, while also adding a good prospect in Compher to go along with the first rounder.