Aladyyn
they praying for the death of a rockstar
Why are you making up completely arbitrary cutoffs just so ROR doesn't fit? Why are you acting like this is basketball where one player can determine everything?Is Ryan O'Reilly a 1C? Yes, he is in the ~22-35 range among all centers. Is he a 1C on a contender? Hell no. RoR is the ultimate supporting center. But you cannot be considered a premier high end 1C when you have never reacher 30 goals, 40 assists, 65 points or made it past round 1 in the first 9 seasons of your career.
RoR will likely finish with career highs across the board. 30-35 goals, 40-45 assists and ~75 points is a reasonable estimate based on current pace. Unfortunately he turns 28 in a month and was never a good skater to begin with. Sooner rather then later his skating will deteriorate, and when he reaches 30/31 he is likely a ~55 point player at that point since his skating will not hold up enough to allow him to continue receiving 20+ mins a night.
If RoR never held out inflating his salary and he was signed to a deal closer to 6,6.5 mil instead of 7.5 mil then he would likely be here. But at his current pay, Botts knew he could not allocate 23.5 mil on Eichel, RoR and Okposo for the next 4 coming into this season. Not with Reinhart, Dahlin, Mitts, and McCabe among others who would need new deals prior to the big 3s deals expiring.
At some point though you need to question why a supposed franchise shutdown center has made the playoffs twice in 10 seasons with minimal production and no games past the first round.
It is because RoR is a supporting piece, not a foundational one. A cup contender can not have RoR as one of its top 2 forwards. He is best suited as a 2C being the 4th or 5th best option. Unfortunately he was paid as a superstar when he signed his deal.
ROR is better than any center on the Predators and yet they are perennial contenders. Sort of throws a wrench into the whole theory too.