Dreger: Avs aren't shopping O'Reilly

Darren Dreger was on Vancouver’s TSN 1040 on Tuesday morning.

On which names he thinks should be monitored most closely:

“The one that is of interest to me is Ryan O’Reilly from the Colorado Avalanche. I’m not suggesting he is in play, he’s being shopped, any of that. In fact, he’s not. I’m sure he’s not. But I’m also aware of what Colorado’s state is right now and that’s a team that needs to address some concerns and probably if they had a mulligan, they would re-think letting Stastny go because he was such a big part of that team. They’re seeing that now. Not that O’Reilly isn’t, but you look at the future of Ryan O’Reilly and there’s a financial pressure that he’s going to put on the club moving forward at center.

“And the fact that there’s a lot of teams with interest in O’Reilly. Winnipeg. Toronto. Go down the list. I’m sure Edmonton, from a Canadian team perspective. I’m sure a lot of American teams would show interest as well if he were available.”

Related: Dreger on interest in O'Reilly from Oilers, Jets, Leafs

On how an O’Reilly trade would be a hard sell to the fans, especially after already having lost Stastny:

“Right. What’s why they’d have to hit the skids and they’d have to hit a grand slam home run for it to be considered. So just because names bubble to the surface doesn’t mean that they’re legit. And it doesn’t mean they’re being shopped or in play. That type of speculation can, at times, lead to something else. So if it’s not O’Reilly in Colorado, then maybe it’s another player.”

Also:

“It depends where you’re at as a team too. Nobody expects Colorado to just dive on their sword and let the season go through. Too much talent in that group and obviously management and coaching are too proud to do that. They still feel that there’s a ton of time left to get this back on track.”

Source: TSN 1040/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey