sports network: Elliot Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas talk the Nashville Predators and interest in center Ryan O'Reilly without any trade protection.
** Transcribed by NHLRumors.com
Bukauskas: “Well, keeping that tone, then the Saturday headline of the weekend, your headline is about Ryan O'Reilly of the Nashville Predators. So naturally, when you have a guy like Nashville When Vale has a season like that, they get calls about players and we've seen some of them move on, (Dante) Fabbro, (Felipe) Tomasino, (Alexander) Carrier now. Got a new home.
You might be tempted to assume that Ryan O'Reilly would also be a player of interest. He's a man with no trade protection and has a salary cap hit of $4.5 million over the next two seasons after this one.
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But as you pointed out, he may not have trade protections in writing, but it sounds like if Nashville was going to take those, that's how they would treat it. He does have protection.
Friedman: Yeah, you hit the nail on the head, no one, I don’t think anyone, believed that in his second year in Nashville, people would be talking about Ryan O’Reilly at the trade committee. I think this is a really important point that you make at the beginning of your paper, because that's exactly why I think this is even a conversation.
You are also right that he does not have trade protection or anti-diversion protection, yet he is treated as such.
I do believe a lot of teams are having scouting meetings right now. You know, you have amateur meetings and you have professional meetings. As you can imagine, teams looking for a center were talking about O'Reilly at pro conferences. I heard the Predators have gotten calls about him and that's what they've told teams, he's considered immobile.
Yeah, I've been told the two things that the Predators have been saying, it seems like, you know, unfortunately, we're going to, we're probably going to have to look at that. I think they would rather keep him. You know, the Predators are looking for a center, and if you trade O'Reilly, you're probably going to be looking for more centers. And, just like O'Reilly is a culture guy, I think what they want, especially when they start bringing in some young players, they want him to be a part of teaching those young players how to play.
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And, you know, so I was told that he was being treated, he was protected from movement, and they weren't going to do anything with him unless it went beyond what was expected. Not only that, but you know, O'Reilly has to agree with that.
So it's because of who he is. I have no doubt there will be a lot of interest, but a) as I said, it's going to be up to O'Reilly, and you'd have to pay for them to even consider going to him.
This is his current situation. He is one of the truly respected players in the NHL. You know, the other thing that's also interesting is, you know, Nashville isn't a team that offers a lot of protection, right? You know, they're really proud that they don't throw out a lot of terms. Apparently, your Roman Josie got them too. And then, you know, last year, O'Reilly didn't get them, and then look what happened last summer. They had to give some of that to some of the guys they signed, as well as (Steven) Stamkos, (Jonathan) Marshall and (Brady) Skj's.
So I think, you know, someone made a good point to me and that's part of this conversation. You know, it was a sign to O'Reilly that, you know, we don't do this and then they did it. But, you know, obviously, they have respect for him and they're going to take care of him. Nothing would happen to Ryan O'Reilly without his consent.
Bukauskas: “Yeah, because he has a lot of respect. Barry Trotz has a lot of respect. That's one of the things I've heard, too, as we mentioned, there's a lot of respect coming from Nana this season. Some of the players that Scheuer moved elsewhere were Trotz, you know, and I think he took into account some of the situations where players might not be getting opportunities and things weren't going well as a team and, you know, he made sure that when people. There's a sense of, okay, it's time to go to a new place, and he does his part to try to make sure that happens in these situations.
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I also think he'll be as frustrating a prospect as the Preds have been this year. Like, if you're ready to move on from Ryan O'Reilly, it feels like you're ready to take a step back longer than I think Trotz would have imagined. As they try to pick up the pieces here in a quick way.
Friedman: “I think that's very fair. By the way, Forsberg also has a no-transfer clause.
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