Avalanche match Flames' offer for Ryan O'Reilly according to report

Doug Pensinger

Colorado has decided to hold on to center Ryan O'Reilly.

The news just came down on Twitter that the Colorado Avalanche have decided to match the Calgary Flames' offer sheet for disgruntled center Ryan O'Reilly.

#Avs match offer for O'Reilly. Factor coming back.
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambersDP) February 28, 2013

This means that the Avalanche are now unable to trade O'Reilly for a calendar year and will almost certainly be forced to enter into negotiations with the forward again after talks broke down again last week. The Avalanche would have received Calgary's first and third round picks in this year's draft if they had allowed O'Reilly to leave the franchise. Instead, the Avalanche locker room will probably be a tad bit awkward this year.

UPDATE: The Avalanche have confirmed the report on Twitter:

BREAKING: @Avalanche announced tonight that the team has matched the Calgary Flames’ offer sheet for forward Ryan O’Reilly. More to follow..
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) February 28, 2013

UPDATE:

Avalanche GM Greg Sherman spoke to the media during intermission of the Avalanche's game against Calgary. Here's video of the press conference:

Here's the Flames' statement:

We believe Ryan O'Reilly is a franchise player. While we attempted to acquire him via trade, we felt the asking price was too steep and would negatively impact our future. As such, we decided to tender an offer sheer and were very pleased to have the player accept our offer. We attempted to structure the offer so as to enhance our chances of getting the player. We attempted to improve our hockey team and will continue to do so going forward.