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UPDATE: Erik Karlsson has just signed a seven-year extension with the team. The number? $6.5M annual. Understand that the length of this deal is a compromise on both ends -- the front office couldn't encourage Don Meehan and the Newport Group to go short in an effort to retain RFA rights upon expiration, so they went for length in order to keep Karlsson an Ottawa Senators product for the long-term. He'll be under contract through 2018-2019.
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TSN's Bob McKenzie just let off this bombshell on Twitter a few minutes ago:
Hearing ANA's Bobby Ryan is "available" again after being taken off trade market after Randy Carlyle's Duck departure.
Forget Rick Nash and the abusive overpayment for his services through picks, prospects, and developed talent. Forget UFA-to-be types like Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, both of whom will receive massive bids in terms of dollar and length from a number of teams around the National Hockey League. And, forget the top-four defenseman priority -- the team needs to address the issue, but when a player of Bobby Ryan's caliber becomes available, everything gets put on hold.
I've spoken -- almost exhaustively -- about Ottawa's position of strength as a buyer in the UFA or trade market this summer. Although every writer // blogger type believes his or her team usually fits the description, let's briefly review the facts of the situation, and why it's actually accurate in the case of the Ottawa Senators franchise:
(a) Cap space? In excess of $33M, currently;
(b) Prospects? Possessing the-second strongest organization in hockey, per
HockeyFutures;
(c) Playoff potential? Unlike half of the National Hockey League, they were there -- and pushed the top-seeded New York Rangers to seven games;
Prior to Bob McKenzie's scoop on Bobby Ryan's availability, I ran through a few reasons why Rick Nash wasn't going to be a priority for this team. Great player, but a ton of red flags. Is he a depreciating commodity? Maybe. Is he signed to an egregiously long-term deal with a trying cap hit? Yes. Has his game been the subject of legitimate criticism in the past with Columbus? Yes.
I'm not trying to beat Rick Nash down -- there's a deal to be had with some team in the National Hockey League, probably New York. And, he'll immediately make them better.
But, Bobby Ryan -- the twenty-five year old phenom from Cherry Hill, New Jersey -- is, quite literally, everything this team needs moving forward. He's young enough to fit the three-year rebuild vision of GM Bryan Murray. He's a winger that has twenty-five goal potential, except his twenty-five goal potential is really forty-goal potential. He's a strong puck-possessor, an attribute highly desired by current bench boss Paul MacLean. And most of all? He's solid on both ends of the ice -- a key attribute for the current system.
Any deal for Bobby Ryan -- currently on a comfortable $5.1M hit through the 2014-2015 season -- would probably have to start with the first-round pick(15th overall) and blue-chip prospect Mika Zibanejad, or a comparable. After that? Your guess is as good as mine.
Ottawa's in a position where they could -- and should -- outbid almost every other team around the National Hockey League, should Bobby Ryan seriously be considered for trade by the Anaheim Ducks front office. Two other teams -- the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers -- could get involved and offer comparatively enticing deals.
For Ottawa, the plan is obvious: Shift focus immediately to Anaheim, and try to piece together a package that brings a first-line winger to Ottawa in preparation for the 2012-2013 season.
And, I think that's precisely what Bryan Murray's going to do --
if he hasn't already.
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