The Ottawa Senators are a team in re-tooling mode at the moment.
The Sens are in desperate need of offense and leadership right now having shown the exit door to their top two offensive players in Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza. Alfie shocked Ottawa fans by signing a free agent deal with the Detroit Red Wings last summer, while Jason Spezza was traded earlier this month to the Dallas Stars.
One wonders who will carry the scoring load for the Senators in 2014-15? Kyle Turris is a nice player, however, he isn't Jason Spezza. He's not a #1 center capable of scoring 75-85 points per season while playing against the top line of the opponent.
The Sens are faced with having two of their top scoring talents as pending UFAs in July 2015. Bobby Ryan and Clarke MacArthur will be free to roam about the NHL in search of next, lucrative contracts next summer. Its in the best interests of the Senators to have conversations with the agents of each player now so that they cannot avoid messy future break-ups like the Alfredsson soap opera from the summer of 2013. The Ottawa Citizen reported this week that Senators GM Bryan Murray is expected to meet with thee agents of Bobby Ryan and Clarke MacArthur this upcoming week to get the exploratory talks started on contract extensions.
Ryan will earn $5.1 million in the final year of his current five-year, $25.5 million contract that he signed in Anaheim.. MacArthur will earn $3.25 million in the final year of his two-year, $6.5 million contract that he signed after he left the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent. The case for signing Ryan to a long term deal now is intriguing in that he will be the most coveted unrestricted free agent forward available on the market next July. There will be some nice value forwards available as UFAs next summer, but none can hold a candle to Ryan, a Cup-winning, 30+ goal scorer. Among the pending 2015 UFA forwards are Jason Spezza, Marty St. Louis, David Krejci, Shawn Horcoff, Jarmir Jag, Drew Stafford, Erik Cole, Martin Erat, and Danny Briere.
Weak UFA class. Suffice to say, Ryan is going to get PAID if he hits the UFA market next July.
The 27 year old left sniping left winger will be the belle of the ball at next summer’s UFA Ball. Ryan will have many suitors lining up for the opportunity to court him to their respective hockey palaces. Among them will be Philadelphia, Buffalo, New Jersey, and Washington. Ryan may love his hockey life in Ottawa enough to ink a new long term deal to stay and play there for the prime years of his NHL career in the next 5-7 seasons.
Or, there may be an even greater chance that Ryan will only be willing commit to signing a one-year contract extension with Ottawa in order to set himself up for the opportunity to strike it rich with a long term, multi-million dollar contract with a contending team next July. If that’s the case, Bryan Murray and his lieutenants will surely have to consider trading Ryan away in the now, rather than risk losing him to the open market next July. Sens fans can’t take another Alfredsson-type departure.
Bryan Murray is a smart hockey man. He knows Ryan’s value. He knows that a player of Ryan’s ilk easily captivates the imaginations of his counterpart NHL GMs. Murray’s Sens are not going to be a Stanley Cup contending team in 2014-15. Perhaps they can be an eight seed in the Eastern standing, or a twelfth seed for that matter. Muray would be able to leverage the asset that he has in Ryan and take back several essential building blocks for his re-tooling project in Ottawa. Murray could ask for, a receive a package that would include a first round draft choice, a top six forward and a prospect in exchange for Ryan. His nephew Tim Murray is sitting there with three first-round draft choices in the Connor McDavid-Jack Eichel draft of June 2015. Perhaps uncle Bryan and his precocious nephew can make a deal that would see Ryan move to Buffalo. Before you poo-poo the idea, remember that Tim Murray played an integral role in the Anaheim Ducks drafting Ryan second overall in the Sidney Crosby draft. Tim Murray was also involved in the trade that saw Anaheim trade Ryan to Ottawa. In his five year NHL career, Ryan has wowed crowds and has more than lived up to all of the advanced hype that accompanied him to the NHL. In 448 career games, Ryan has scored 170 goals and has assisted on 167 others. He’s also collected 296 PIMs. In 26 career playoff games, he has scored 10 goals and added 5 assists.
Those are the type of numbers that Ryan projects to continue to pile up each and every season from here on out in his illustrious NHL career. The Senators may want to lock him up long term, however, their budget and salary cap may not allow them to lock him up for say 6 years and $40-$42 million, if not more. That’s where Tim Murray will play a role. Ryan’s agents at Newports Sports know full well that Murray and Terry Pegula are serious about building a winning team right now. One only look at Murray’s past two months of work to see that he is a competent, intelligent, aggressive NHL GM who will not be denied the opportunity to build a winner in Buffalo. He drafted Samson Reinhart with the second overall pick in the draft. He drafted feisty winger Brendan Lemieux in the second round, as well as loading up on sizeable, skilled players who would augment and inspire Bobby Ryan’s skill set. Trading for savvy vet Josh Gorges adds instant credibility to Buffalo, as does signing the next Sabres captain Brian Gionta to a three year deal. Murray has a stockpile of great young talent in AHL Rochester right now that will be enticing to future free agents like Ryan to seriously consider making Buffalo a destination of choice.
Oh, and if all else fails, there’s Terry Pegula’s billions of dollars for free agents to be to fall in love with.
NHL player agents love money. Their players do, too.
Pegula has a seemingly endless supply of cash that he will not be afraid to invest in the right players who will add immediate character and value to his Sabres state-of-the-art locker room. The puck is in Bryan Murray’s end of the rink now. Lets just see how his talks with Ryan’s agents progress (or don’t) later this week.
Scoff if you want Sabres haters. Buffalo is longer being referred to as the hockey gulags. Do your homework. Review the organization flow chart and the drafting successes of the past 5 seasons. Buffalo is about to pop the cork on Hockey Heaven Version 2.0.