Bobby Ryan's collision into the boards against the Dallas Stars, apparently, was as painful as it looked.
Sylvain St-Laurent's post at Le Droit on Wednesday morning suggests that Bobby Ryan could be shelved for the rest of the season.
It's my understanding that Bobby Ryan's played through an injury for most of the season, stemming all the way back to November. Sens Chirp has been been consistently mentioning this to me (and, others) as a real possibility for months now, so it wasn't really surprising to hear Paul MacLean suggest that Ryan's latest injury was really just an exacerbation of a prior one.
Ryan's really had an odd year, but his tapering production and decreased minutes/deployment makes an awful lot of sense when you hold it to the injury light. It makes Ottawa's situation with him and his contract even trickier, I think. If Ryan's injury was as bad as it sounded this year, it's almost impossible to not excuse him for his poor play relative to his early season explosion.
I should note here that I'm not even really talking about his raw goal-scoring numbers. He looked like a machine early on with Kyle Turris and Clarke MacArthur. But, really in the calendar year of 2014, he sort of disappeared. And, unlike a lot of guys this year who struggled through long stretches, it certainly seems like he had a bit of a reason.
I've said this before, but I really anticipate Ottawa's off-season is going to be an insane one. I genuinely believe this team, right or wrong, is at least considering trading Jason Spezza this summer. I just sense that the coaching staff has never really endeared themselves to his style of play. Spezza's game has really improved from the doldrums of where it was to start the season, but I just don't see this organization committing long-term and high-dollar to an older center with an ugly injury history and objectionable defensive play. The other thing, of course, is that they have a decent crop of centers in place, with Curtis Lazar coming in a couple of years, and whatever center they bring back in a potential trade.
Bryan Murray didn't really dismiss those trade rumors at the deadline, when teams like Anaheim and St. Louis came calling on the captain. If I recall correctly, the response was, "We're not going down that road at this time," or some variation. Not really an endorsement. But neither was this, among other things. And, it's already eyebrow-raising enough that these trade discussions -- whatever they were -- made it into a Sun column. Generally, those guys steer clear unless they have some sort of a green light to write about it.
I think this team, in a perfect world, should keep Jason Spezza and build up the defense to make a run at the Cup. The problem: the team has no money. So they sort of have to be painstakingly analytical when it comes to player retention and potential acquisitions. It'll be extremely difficult to find a suitor that's willing to send fair value, but I find it interesting that the two teams interested in the captain are two "Cup contenders" that I'm not even sure are top three teams in their own conference -- that is to say, they're not in Chicago or San Jose's class, and maybe Los Angeles is a bit better, too. A fizzle out is really possible. And then, you wonder if they panic-move on someone.
So, I guess I'm more intrigued as to what they do with Bobby Ryan. I have no idea if the team loves the kid or not, but when he's clicking (and healthy!), he can sure fill up the goal column. Ottawa really has a lot of forwards who are of decent skill or better, but no one can find the back of the net like Ryan on this team. And that matters, quite a bit.
And, if the team believes the injuries were holding him back, then we might have an organization leaning more towards extension than trade.
At either rate, if even one of the two guys is shopped, a legitimate first-pairing defenseman in the return package is virtually a must.
Thanks for reading!