Before getting to today's report card, a couple of notes:
*Dave Cameron agreed in principle to a two-year contract extension yesterday and will remain the head coach of the Senators for the foreseeable future. The two-year commitment seems a little short, with 3 being the norm for most coaches, but Cameron doesn't seem like the kind of guy to be concerned with those kinds of details. The value was reported at about $800K per season.
*Luke Richardson is also ready to sign and extension to continue as the head coach in Binghamton.
*And finally, congratulations to Bryan Murray, who will be inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame tonight, along with former radio voice of the Senators, Dave Schreiber.
Now, on to today's report card, featuring the Senators' highest paid forward, Bobby Ryan.
PRE-SEASON EXPECTATION
Ryan was entering the final year of his contract, and on the eve of the season signed a extension that moved him from the highest paid forward on the team to the highest paid player with his 7 year contract worth over $50M.
The pressure was on Ryan to deliver offensively and score at least 30 goals as the team's premiere goal scoring threat.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
Hopefully it was just one of those off-years for Ryan, who failed to crack the 20 goal mark for the first time in his career for a season where he played more than 50 games. It was culminated in a career-long drought where he scored just 1 goal in his last 20 regular season games as he slumped while the team around him was excelling. The slump carried over to the playoffs, where he notched just 2 goals (in the same game, a blowout win) in a 6 game playoff series where all 4 losses were essentially by 1 goal and Ottawa could have used something, anything from their top goal-scoring threat.
He finished sixth on the team in goals and fourth in assists and points, and was overshadowed by rookies Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman, who carried much of the goal-scoring mantle on their shoulders while Ryan was slumping.
THE HARD STATS
THE FANCY STATS
When you stack Ryan's performance up against the elite scoring wingers in the division, he certainly doesn't stand out as an elite performer.
THE "KEY" STATS
Ryan has 41 goals in 148 games as a Senator after having 4-30 goal seasons in Anaheim prior to the lockout.
FUTURE OUTLOOK
The past season has to be considered a disappointment for Ryan and the Senators. And you have to hope for a bounce-back next season because of the dollars committed to the player for the long-term. You can easily write off bad contracts that are a couple of million, like the ones that so many fans are complaining about (the Greenings and Legwands of the world), but it is far more important for a player making the money Ryan is to perform to that level and earn his paycheck on a nightly basis.
He certainly didn't do it this season, for whatever reason. When you are hoping at the end of the season to have a secret injury revealed to explain long stretches of invisibility from the guy that was supposed to be your best forward, then there are some concerns.
You could call the past season a year of transition for the Senators, and hopefully with more stability in the formation of the lineup Ryan will get back to being an elite scorer. He had better be, because his cap hit will be close to the top 25 paid forwards in the league when his new contract kicks in next season and expectations will be even higher.
GRADE: Ryan is paid to be a goal-scorer and he was 103rd in the league in that department, and 71st in points. While he is a likeable person, the performance and consistency on the ice simply wasn't at the level of where he needed to be. This is a guy who should be at or near the top 10 in goal production (has been inside the top 10 on 2 occasions) and he was nowhere close to that this season. I don't want to make it sound like all doom and gloom, and there were stretches where Ryan was good. You can't fault his effort and he tried to do other things while the puck wasn't going in for him, but the bottom line is he is here to score goals and put up points. C .
I mentioned money a lot in this piece, and I don't usually like to compare a player's salary with expectation, but in this case the salary is such a huge chunk of the Senators' payroll that they absolutely need more from Ryan going forward if they are going to continue to make strides in the standings.
If you missed them, check out prior Report Cards: