- Chris Johnston via twitter: “For what it’s worth, Bill Daly says any quotes from him refuting my story aren’t legitimate.”
- Chris Johnston of SportsNet: The Flames may have gotten real lucky that the Avalanche matched their 2-year, $10 million offer for Ryan O’Reilly.
In a bizarre twist to an already unusual story, Sportsnet.ca has discovered that the Flames were not only in danger of losing 2013 first- and third-round draft picks as compensation if the Avs hadn’t matched the O’Reilly contract, but they also would likely have had to surrender the player before ever getting him in uniform.
That’s because O’Reilly would have needed to clear waivers before joining the team’s roster.
O’Reilly apparently played with Metallurg of the KHL on Jan. 21st and 23rd, both games were after the NHL season had started. This would mean that he would have to clear through waivers.
Recently, Evgeni Nabokov, Kyle Wellwood and Marek Svatos signed with an NHL team, then found themselves claimed by another team on waivers.
A source said that the NHL wasn’t aware that he played in Russia after the start of the season.
- Corey Pronman via twitter: If the report is true, can see why some teams didn’t tender an offer sheet.
- Bob McKenzie via twitter: “For those asking, yes, my understanding is if COL hadn’t matched CGY offer on O’Reilly, CGY would have had to put him on waivers to play now. What’s fascinating is that a change in the new CBA is all that separated COL from having to put O’Reilly on waivers now to get him in lineup. In old CBA, 13:23 specified any player who plays in Europe after start of NHL reg season needs waivers playing in same season in NHL. But article 13 of recent MOU, says following: All players on a Club’s Reserve List and RFA list will be exempt from application of 13:23 In other words, in this new CBA, team can sign one of its own RFAs or draft picks out of Europe in mid-season and get in lineup w/o waivers.”