I disagree as far as situation being different when Sakic signed the offer sheet.
The details may be different but the situation was the same. O'Reilly is being bashed here for what he did, which is pretty much not being loyal to the Avs and wanting more money.
Sakic was the captain and face of the franchise, but he also signed the offer sheet from another team instead of ignoring the Rangers offer and saying I will stay with the Avs at any price because I'm very loyal to this team.
Bottom line is, money talks.
Sakic signed that sheet in early August. Well before any team activities and start of the season.
At the time, I do not believe anyone felt Sakic would not resign with the Avs or hold out come October. NYR just made a move that made the $$ hard for Sakic to pass on and they front loaded that deal with an unprecedented 15m signing bonus.
The situations were very different and very much less about what Sakic thought he was worth vs any offer from the club, but about the crazy "overpayment" the Rangers were offering.
Unfortunately I'm old enough to remember that time, and the absolute shock and panic the Avs' fans felt. At the time, there were still some grumblings from fans ("How could he sign that?", "Where's his loyalty?", etc") but no one could blame him with the money involved, and he quickly made the fans forget it by his play and by being the greatness that was Sakic.
Now ROR has the same if not larger issue to deal with. I do not blame him for signing that sheet. That's great money, but I do need to see that he WANTS to be a part of this team, and not just working for the check before I forget that he held out and was willing to never wear an Avs sweater again.