Predators’ Ryan O’Reilly: ‘I can’t make a six-foot pass to save my life’
Ryan O’Reilly didn’t mince words when speaking with reporters following the Nashville Predators’ 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers Thursday night.
The 17-year NHL veteran, who finished the night with a goal in 18:54 of ice time, expressed his frustration with a Predators group that has now lost 10 of their last 13 games.
Ryan O’Reilly just torched himself in the locker room after the loss.
“I can’t make a 6-foot pass to save my life… I’ve had one good year in my career” pic.twitter.com/1cLUzra5Y2
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) November 7, 2025
“We had a chance to take full control of the game and we didn’t, we let them back in and they pushed back,” he said. “For myself, (a) number-one center, I turned the puck over everywhere. (I) can’t make a six-foot pass to save my life. We’re not going to have much success if I’m playing pathetic like that.
“I don’t know the answer,” he continued. “I’ve had one good year in my career … I don’t have any answers, that’s for sure.”
One reporter asked O’Reilly if the team is happy with how their game has developed in the offensive zone.
“It’s nice having the puck in the offensive zone, but when you don’t win games, it’s disappointing,” he said. “I’m pissed off. I just want to win games, it’s as simple as that.”
The 34-year-old O’Reilly, visibly upset, wasn’t done.
“I’m disappointed with myself, I’m disappointed in the group. There’s good things, but we’ve got to find a way to win games and I don’t know what that is, exactly.”
Another reporter asked the center if the frustration was just from the game or was it accumulative of the team’s that’s now 5-7-4 through their first 16 games of the season.
“I know other guys feel it too,” he said. “In the last few games, I’ve been making left and right that normally I don’t do. I can’t expect to win like that. It’s a frustration, but a lot of guys are working and doing what they can.”
O’Reilly, now in his third season with the Predators after signing a four-year, $18-million contract in July 2023, has six goals and four assists for 10 points in 16 games through the 2025-26 season. In three seasons with Nashville, the Clinton, Ont., native has 53 goals and 79 assists for 132 points in 177 regular-season games.
Since entering the league in 2009-10, O’Reilly has recorded 309 goals and 525 assists for 834 points in 1,168 career regular-season games with the Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs, St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche.
O’Reilly has also appeared in 81 career playoff games, posting 26 goals and 41 assists for 67 points. He led the Blues to a Stanley Cup championship in 2019 and was awarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP, as he finished with eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points, averaging 21 minutes of ice time in 26 games that spring.