Friday night will be a critical game for one former Colorado Avalanche player.

Ryan O’Reilly has long been a focal point in trade rumors, including speculation about a potential reunion with the Colorado Avalanche, the team that drafted him. Set to turn 35 in February, O’Reilly spent the first six seasons of his NHL career in Colorado (2009–2014), appearing in 427 games and compiling 90 goals and 156 assists during his tenure with the franchise.

Can Ryan O’Reilly Prove His Worth?

Even with the league’s best record, the most explosive offense, and the stingiest defense, coach Jared Bednar sees room for improvement at one position: the Avalanche remain thin at third-line center.

Ryan O’Reilly flipping the no look puck up the ice. If Patrick Mahomes does this we don’t hear the end of it. pic.twitter.com/3CkdfwTPGp

— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) January 14, 2026

On Friday, the Avalanche (33-4-8) will take on the Nashville Predators (22-20-4), and O’Reilly, who has spent the past three seasons with Nashville, will be facing his former team.

Despite turning 35 soon, O’Reilly is on pace for one of the best seasons of his career. He is currently tracking to finish the year with 23 goals and 46 assists for 69 points.

That projection isn’t far off from his career-best campaign during the 2018-19 season, when he recorded 28 goals and 49 assists for 77 points. That same year, he also won the Stanley Cup and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, posting 23 points in 26 games, including eight goals and 15 assists.

Is Ross Colton at Odds with the Avalanche?

Over the past several seasons, the Avalanche have rotated Ross Colton between center and wing. On the wing, the former Stanley Cup champion has been highly productive, but his offensive output has generally dipped when deployed as the third-line center.

Recently, Colton has hinted at potential friction with the Avalanche. Last month, he managed just two points in 14 games, raising questions about his role and fit within the lineup.

The Robbinsville, New Jersey native found a spark when moved to the second line alongside Valeri Nichushkin and Brock Nelson against the Ottawa Senators, recording his first three-point game of the season.

“Feel like I’m playing well. I feel like part of it’s how you’re deployed, the minutes you’re getting. Long stretch there, we weren’t playing a lot, so it’s hard to do stuff when you’re playing less than 10 minutes,” Colton said. “We were doing everything that we could, playing the right way, doing little things right.”

While Colton’s performance against the Senators was encouraging, he won’t remain a second-line winger once captain Gabriel Landeskog returns from injury. Any offensive surge he produces could be short-lived.

Meanwhile, Jack Drury has filled the third-line center role over the past eight games, but it’s clear Bednar isn’t fully committed to him in that position. If he were, there wouldn’t be as much experimentation with the lineup.

Taken together, there’s a lot at stake for both Colton and O’Reilly — though in O’Reilly’s case, only if he actually wants to leave Nashville. Predators general manager Barry Trotz has made it clear that any trade involving O’Reilly would only happen at the player’s request.

Why O’Reilly Could Be a Perfect Fit

After the Avalanche traded O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Nikita Zadorov, J.T. Compher, Mikhail Grigorenko, and a second-round pick, O’Reilly eventually landed in St. Louis, where his career truly took off. In his first season with the Blues, he won a Stanley Cup and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

O’Reilly spent parts of five seasons with St. Louis before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 17, 2023. He played 13 games with Toronto before signing with the Nashville Predators in the following offseason.'

Given his $4.5 million cap hit and consistent level of performance, O’Reilly would be a dream addition for an Avalanche team that is already one of the league’s most dangerous. In Nashville, he has been one of the few bright spots on a roster clearly in need of a new direction.

By comparison, Colton makes slightly less than O’Reilly at $4 million, but has only posted 20 points with five goals and 15 assists in 45 games. O’Reilly has nearly doubled that production despite being five years older and playing on a worse team.

The most significant obstacle could be a bidding war. Securing a player of O’Reilly’s caliber would likely demand a substantial return, yet the potential reward—a decisive edge in the pursuit of another Stanley Cup—could justify the cost. Should he deliver an eye-opening performance on Friday against the league’s top team, it would be difficult for Colorado to ignore the opportunity to at least place a formal offer.

Right now, the puck is in Colorado’s possession.