http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=417051

Good move by the Flames. They need someone like him.

WHOA!!! Did not see that one coming. Very smart. They have been needing a first tine centre for at least a decade......plus they draft horribly anyway.

Well, if they do land O'Reilly, not sure if they would trade Iginla. Kind of defeats the purpose.

That's exactly right. Feaster is doing the classic Flames "treading water and not officially rebuild" act. Makes sense and may be worth it if they happen to sneak into the playoffs.

Calgary and Colorado play each other today. Could be entertaining to watch the expressions on Sherman's face.

lol...Red. He had to figure that this was a possibility. Eventually, someone was going to bite. Considering their season has not gone according to plan, Sherman will probably be happy to take the picks.

Pretty much bones the Avs, and exposes their utter front office incompetence...

It'll be interesting.

In response to Fletcher1's comment:

Colorado doesn't match Fletch ? forgone conclusion...

mid to high first and 3rd round pick isn't bad compensation.  Credit to Oreilly's agent, with a 6.5 million 2nd year salary that becomes the minimum for his qualifying offer after the next 2 years.  seem way to high, I think Calgary is insane.

In response to SanDogBrewin's comment:

No way.  Because of the way they structured it, the Avs would have to offer $6.5 for next year and they can't trade him for a year.  I'd be shocked...tight wads...

I say the Avs match it.  Tough to explain to your fan base why you'd let a "great"  (very good?) player walk when you have $17M in cap space.

I think Calgary is taking quite a large risk too.

O'Reilly has only had one season where he resembled a #1 center (when Duchene and Stastny were hurt and he got a ton of opportunity). He faded terribly down the stretch when the Avs were fighting for a playoff spot.

His career high is 18 goals.

They need to re-sign him in two years.  If they don't, the draft picks may seem like a lot to give up.

 

Keep an eye on his physical exam -- rumors were that he was hurt pretty badly in Russia and came back to nurse his way back to health.  He may not be ready to play.

$10 million, a 1st round pick, and a 3rd is nothing to sneeze at.

I think O'Reilly is a great player, but he's always been an underdog in a quiet hockey town where he could exceed the expectations of a young kid that nobody knew.  Now he's getting first line center money, big expectations, and playing for a rabid fan base/media market.  He better produce.  He needs to outshine $5 million in payroll and a mid 1st round pick.

In response to Not-A-Shot's comment:

I would agree with that, but they have a long history of stubbornly departing with holdouts without budging.  Considering their highest offer to O'Reilly was reportedly in the $4-million-ish range, if that, I can't fathom that they would tuck tail now and raise their offer by over 50%.  If they did, Matt Duchene should stop playing immediately and demand a renegotiation.

Signing him would look even more hopelessly inept than letting him go.  They have no hand to play at all.

and the Avs matched the offer. 

In response to BsLegion's comment:

That was unexpected....to all but NAS that is.

In response to BsLegion's comment:

I'm glad they did. At least he's playing again.

                            http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=417051

I have always been surprised why teams do not use this mechanism that is available to them more often.. I understand it creates some tension with teams involved , but this is competition and your job as a GM is to better your team.. Perfect example was the Stamkos hold up in negotiations.. Why someone didn't drop $10M/ per  on this guy on an offer sheet  is beyond me, truly never understood no one stepping out for that guy and at least make TB squirm..... especially when Tampa was going thru some financial hardship and already had the anchor of Lecavallier's contract.  That type of scenario comes along once in a blue moon

 I give Calgary a lot of credit...they were trying to improve their team.. I hope we see more of these moves in future...

 

In response to Fletcher1's comment:

Ahem...nevermind.

In response to cowboys9's comment:

There is a lot of politics involved. 

 

Outside of the division, if you sign a player to an offer sheet, you are basically killing any possibility of trading with that GM or team for quite a while.  It's pretty bad blood. 

Inside the division, it's a sword with many edges.  If you get the guy, the other team is going to have your picks and that could really come back to haunt you.  If you don't get the guy, you've taken a player off the shelf and put him on the ice at a price that you think is fair.  And the bad blood again.

This is why Brian Burke worked out the deal for Kessel instead of going to the offer sheet.  He at least saved the bad blood.  He still got stung by the picks coming back to bite him, but at least those picks were his choice.

Isn't this cap hit the same as Kessel's? Meaning it would have been the same 1st and 3rd round picks? That would have been better for Toronto. They'd be without Colborne, might still have Kaberle, and would probably have Dougie or Ryan Murphy....or an even higher pick.

But I'll take what they did :)

In response to Not-A-Shot's comment:

It's already deeply personal between Colorado and Calgary.  Apparently Goulet had a big hand in this deal for Calgary.  Not long since he was fired by Colorado after being in line for the GM job, which was utimiately given to the inexperienced, and apparently incompetent, Greg Sherman instead.  The Avs now have a contract that they hate due to the Flames.  This one will linger.

Last night ex-GM Neil Smith said when he offered a failed offer sheet there was much abuse thrown at him at the next GM's meeting.

Politics is definitely involved with the RFA offer sheet process.  

The politician's take: seems like the offer sheet is a way for everyone to save face:

1. Sherman gets his guy at less than what the agent was asking for

2. O'Reilly gets paid a good sum and ends a messy holdout that could have hurt his image with the fans. The "getting paid" thing being the more important.

3. Feaster gets to show his team that he's not throwing in the towel, while actually throwing in the towel

Is it me, or shouldn't GMs actively talk behind the scenes and stage these type of things?

In response to asmaha's comment:

Whoa, the Avs did not save face, or get O'Reilly at a price they are happy about.  They got bent over, and now have a contract that they do not like at all.  I think that they matched as quickly as they did so that they could move O'Reilly at next year's trade deadline (they have to hang on to him for a year, so it will be very close, couldn't wait 7 days to match...).  This contract was for a lot more than they wanted and they were strong-armed into it.  I think they look like fools for diddling around with this until someone forced their hand into spending millions more than they wanted.

I don't think Calgary looks great either.  They loook desperate, they broke the GM gentlemen code, burned bridges, and now have nothing to show for it.

In my opinion:

O'Reilly and his agent = winners

Colorado and Calgary = losers