Not sure signing a 32 year old to five years contract would be wise. If numbers mean anything, he declined last year, and more this year. Despite what he has done in his career, seems like a player to avoid long term

Maybe a 1-2 year deal. Bridge the gap and shelter sillinger and Johnson. He’s not the 1c anymore but can be a solid stop gap in the meantime

Realistically, he's not getting anything less than 5 years. I fully expect it would require CBJ to offer a 7 year deal. They definitely should stay away though, not necessarily because he's 32 but they already got a few big contracts, and by the time this team turns it around, his contract is probably going to be an obstacle to signing guys coming off their ELC.

Columbus is nowhere near competing for a cup for quite a while.

Signing an aging Ryan O'Reilly for 5 years $35 million makes absolutely no sense. Need to look at younger players not aging players. Columbus won't be very competitive in O'Reilly's 5 years with the team.

I think he could still be a solid 1C for a few more years and then move down to 2C, but the regression is a concern.



I would love it if we could get him on a 2 -3 year deal, but don't see that happening.



Unfortuately I think you are righ that he gets at least 5 years. Personally I wouldn't mind going 5 years, but I understand why others wouldn't.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

How much longer do you think Boqvist will be out?

Unless he goes on a heater, nobody is offering him a 7 year deal. He’s been dog this year. It’s a 2 year or bust.

Unfortuately I think you are righ that he gets at least 5 years. Personally I wouldn't mind going 5 years, but I understand why others wouldn't.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.[/quote]

The concern that I would have is if two of Johnson, Sillinger, or Marchenko break out. There's Voracek's 8.25m for one and I'm guessing the cap would go up 10m the following year if it's flat. So, they are probably going to have to lock one guy up and bridge the other to sign the 3rd+Blankenburg+Roslovic (assuming he's good enough to keep around).

Could be a missed opportunity to lock both Johnson and Sillinger for 8m if they are the two to break out.

Im assuming he's still good defensively and he's on pace for 40pts, so he should be able to get what a higher end 3C gets as a UFA. It's definitely going to be bust because 2 year deal would have him being paid 10m+ and that's not happening. Worst case he probably gets 4.5mx5 which beats 7.5mx2 (what if he gets LTIRetired?). Hs probably only takes that from a team that he thinks is currently Cup-worthy.

I’m not saying he’s not worth more than a 2 year deal. I’m just saying that I don’t think the jackets should offer more than a 2 year deal. As for ltiretiring, unless it is kinda a handshake thing where after year two or three of a five year deal he goes under the knife for a surgery and calls it, I don’t think the jackets can swing it cap wise if sillinger and Johnson improve like they should.
As for the 5x5 deal I think he could get that even as a high end 3c.


Think about kadri last year.
He won a cup and had a million points at 32 years old. He got 7x7 and had to wait like the entire summer to get it. Ryan isn’t even close to on pace to doing what kadri did production wise, so I just don’t see it out there for him in the same way.

Yeah, I got what you meant when you said 2 years or bust.

Kadri had to wait because no one had cap and he was selective of where he wanted to go, and he was after ~50m contract. Arizona was claiming they were going to pursue him, they might have been just saying that to save face and could have offered him a 7mx5 offer or something like that but yeah if O'Reilly has trouble signing he should be able to get a 30m contract.

What I meant about him getting LTIRetired was if he took a 14m contract, he would regret it. Even a 3mx7 contract would have been better in hindsight.

I agree though that he doesn't fit Jackets timeline with a 5+ years deal and that a 2 year deal would be more convenient for them.

Columbus isn’t the right fit for OReilly, the times lines don’t match up we’ll imo, OReilly has 2-3 good years left and Columbus is 2-3 seasons away from being a competitive team. Someone like Horvat as a UFA would be the much better choice for Columbus.

I get wanting to shelter the young guys, but considering we’re on our way to (please god please) adding a Bedard or Fantilli, alongside Sillinger and perhaps Johnson, then the room at C is about to become more crowded. Not to mention do we keep doing the “Rosy at C” experiment, or (if he is still here next year), will Lars keep stapling him to the bench?

It’d be one thing to bring in a vet on a 1-2 year deal; but, yeah to everyone’s point, ROR is going to ask for (and get) more. I think the cap situation will still affect some teams for at least one more year, so I’m not sure I see him getting 5-7 years, but someone is going to pay.



He broke his foot, so those can be tricky to come back considering skating. I also imagine with how ****ty this season is going they are going to tell him to take his time. Probably another 4 weeks or so.

I agree, but this was more like option 3 if we miss out on both Larkin (if he for some reason doesn't re-sign in Detroit) and Horvat.

Option 1 is draft someone, Bedard, Carlsson, Fantilli
Option 2 is sign Horvat
Option 3 should be continue to build and see if Sillinger can take the spot.

Honestly I don’t even see OReilly looking at Columbus as a destination, it’s not near is family and they aren’t close to being a contender. Only though is if OReilly has a really close friend on the team that I don’t know about like Gaudreau and Robinson.