Dater’s Daily: Ryan O’Reilly Unfairly Blaming Himself Again; NHL News And Notes

Things haven’t changed with Ryan O’Reilly. He’s a fabulous player and great guy, with a Stanley Cup ring, a Conn Smythe Trophy, and a 14-year (gulp) NHL career to this point. But he will still unfairly blame himself when things go wrong for his team. He’s too hard on himself, and while some think that may be for show, I can tell you it’s not. I remember trying to talk to him after some Avalanche losses when he was here, and he was just completely disconsolate and put it all on himself. The St. Louis Blues have lost five in a row, and ROR is. … putting the blame on himself. That and more is part of Dater’s Daily for this glorious Thursday on Nov. 3 in the Year of Our Lord, 2022:

• Hey, actually, Ryan O’Reilly hasn’t been very good at all so far, judging by the stats. He’s got one point in eight games and a -11. But I’m sure he’s actually played better than he’s letting on. Here’s more on him self-flaggelating (NHL.com)
• Besides, Jordan “Champion Water Bottle Tosser” Binnington has been even worse.
• Binner’s save percentage is .882.
• I think Ryan O’Reilly has been so good in his career that I think he’s a borderline Hall of Famer at this point. How’s that for a hot take?
• But I’ve just always really liked his game. He’s clutch and works his ass off. Always has. He’s interesting and complicated in a way, but I like people like that.
• Would any of you – any of you – buy a book I really want to write? It would be something like “The Year Your Favorite Player Played on a Weird Team”, where, I’d detail everything about, say, Bobby Orr’s last year in Chicago, or Franco Harris’s last year, in Seattle, or Johnny Unitas’ last year in San Diego, or, if it happened, something like John Elway’s last year with the Detroit Lions?) This is a lifelong fascination of mine, and I really want to try this. Yet, I’m not sure I could find a publisher for it. They’d almost certainly say it’s too vague and old. But I don’t know, I think it could be a hit. Be honest. Would any of you be tempted to buy it?
• I can take it, if no. Things have been much worse.
• I want this site to be one in which I have the final say, but open to all of you with a good opinion, well-written, on the Avalanche. So, let’s try this: Send me your best Avalanche take of the moment, and include a name for yourself (real or a pseudonym, I don’t care) and send it to me at adater@comcast.net. A couple tips: Don’t write too long, and get to the point with what you’re trying to say.
• If it passes my muster (I have been a sportswriter most of my adult life, but I also have real copy-editing experience for some big names). I’ll publish it and include any promo plug you want.
• Things are starting to go seriously wrong for the Pittsburgh Penguins (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)
• The Boston Bruins are the fifth-most valuable team in the NHL. The full list here (Boston Hockey Now)
• The Avalanche are worth a cool $875 million. The original price paid for the Avalanche, when purchased from Quebec in 1995: $75 million.
• Say hello to our latest site, in LA (LA Hockey Now)
• Trade rumors starting to happen in Toronto (Hockey News)
• The Flyers are starting to come back to earth (Philly Hockey Now)
• Former Av Nico Sturm will do an “ask me anything” thing (San Jose Hockey Now)
• I’ll be taking in the Eagles game tonight in Loveland. Will report back.
• Indeed, that means I’m not in Finland for the Global Series games. But I am hiring a good, local Finnish hockey writer to cover the games from the scene for this site.