Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene doesn't appear to be ruing the departure of Ryan O'Reilly.
Duchene put a condition on O'Reilly's ability as a teammate when asked about the round of failed contract negotiations that finally led to his departure from the franchise.
"(O'Reilly) was always a guy who came - when he was at the rink - he worked hard. And he was a good teammate, at the rink. He worked hard on the ice," Duchene told Mike Chambers of The Denver Post.
He went on to compare O'Reilly's seemingly unyielding stance in contract negotiations to recently extended top-pairing defenseman Erik Johnson.
"Obviously the management has a plan for this team and you see it with (Johnson's) deal. (Johnson) fell under that plan and is (thrilled) with it. He really wants to be here and he made it happen. They found a great deal for him and we're all thrilled with it. That just wasn't happening on that end, with O'Reilly."
O'Reilly signed the richest contract in Buffalo Sabres history shortly after his trade, which saw Nikita Zadorov and Mikhail Grigorenko - two players Duchene describes as "awesome" - come back in return.
