Ryan O'Reilly remains a stranger to the penalty box, credits Yoga

The Colorado Avalanche may have made the right decision to keep forward Ryan O'Reilly instead of dealing him at the deadline as rumors suggested. Through 61 games played, O'Reilly has yet to hang his head and coast to the penalty box.

It's quite an accomplishment to play on the first or second line and be 22 games away from a clean season without taking any penalties. 

O'Reilly has played an average of 20 minutes a night through five seasons with the Avalanche and his penalty minutes have dwindled each year.

At the age of 18 he played 81 games for 26 points in his rookie season with 18 penalty minutes. Two seasons later, that number was down to 12 penalty minutes through another 81-game season for 55 points.

Last year O'Reilly enjoyed a 29-game season for 20 points and four penalty minutes.

O'Reilly knows the last thing his team needs is to have him locked up for two minutes or more while his team struggles to hold off the opponent's power play. "Growing up, my parents always told me, you can never score from the penalty box. You can never help the team win from the box," he told Mike Chambers of The Denver Post.

Of all the benefits of Yoga, O'Reilly credits the practice for his on-ice discipline.

"Yoga in general is a big practice in discipline, the control over your whole body. It does obviously help. You're defending a guy and aware of your body. You can't put your stick in a certain area. It does correlate."

If that attitude is what is keeping him on the ice and out of trouble, maybe others should seek to follow the example. Through 326 career NHL games and 5,855 minutes of ice time, O'Reilly has only left the team short-handed for 50 minutes. 

O'Reilly has been nominated for the Lady Byng once during his career.