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Is Bobby Ryan the Ottawa Senators’ worst contract?

By Joshua Delorme

OTTAWA, ON - APRIL 06: Ottawa Senators Right Wing Bobby Ryan (9) prepares for a face-off during third period National Hockey League action between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators on April 6, 2019, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - APRIL 06: Ottawa Senators Right Wing Bobby Ryan (9) prepares for a face-off during third period National Hockey League action between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators on April 6, 2019, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Every NHL has one or two contracts that they wish they could get a do-over on. Is that Bobby Ryan for the Ottawa Senators?

The Site Expert over at PuckProse.com recently put together a great piece outlining the worst contract on every team. Dave Stevenson selected Bobby Ryan as the Ottawa Senators worst contract. Before I jump into analyzing this, I’d invite everyone to check out the fantastic piece that Dave put together. A classic summer must-read!

The Ottawa Senators only have two contracts that go beyond the 2020-2021 NHL season. This makes selecting the team’s worst contract pretty simple, it only comes down to Bobby Ryan or Nikita Zaitsev. Considering the years remaining and the dollar amount attached to the Bobby Ryan contract, it’s not all that surprising that Puck Prose chose his contract as the worst contract on the team.

The Ottawa Senators acquired Bobby Ryan in a July 5, 2013 trade that saw the Senators send Jakob Silfverberg, Stefan Noesen, and a 2014 first-round draft pick to the Anaheim Ducks. July 5, 2013, is a date that will live in infamy in the hearts of many Senators fans, as that is also the date that the greatest Senator of all-time decided to trade in his Sens jersey for a Detroit Red Wings jersey.

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As Stevenson points out in his Puck Prose post, Bobby Ryan actually had a pretty good first season with the Senators registering 23 goals and tallying up 25 assists in 70 games. His season was cut short due to injury, which should have been an unfortunate sign of things to come for Bobby Ryan.

Statistically, Ryan’s tenure with the Senators could have gone a lot worse. The right-winger has put up 102 goals and 156 assists in 431 games which averages out to approximately 0.598 points per game. Stevenson basically outlines this exact same thought in his post:

"“When healthy, Ryan’s actually been fairly decent. Among the 377 forwards with at least 150 games played since the start of the 2015-16 season, he ranks 145th. The issue is Ryan is paid to be a much better player than that. A budget team like the Senators needs guys like him to live up to their deals. Ryan isn’t doing it.”"

Any fan who watches the games on a regular basis can see that Bobby Ryan does in fact struggle in some game situations, but that does not mean he does not have a place on this team. The fact that there are only two long-term contracts currently on this team drastically hinders Ryan’s chances of not being labelled the worst contract on the team.

Many people in the fanbase love to criticize and complain about Bobby Ryan’s contract, but I always like to think back to that October 2, 2014 morning when the Senators announced they had signed Ryan to a long-term contract extension. Many of the same people that love to criticize the team for signing it and love to complain about Ryan being on the team are the same people that were ecstatic that the team managed to convince him to commit long-term. This fanbase is a funny one, many people live in perpetual fear that big-name players will leave (rightfully so if you look at the last 15 months) but then complains when the team overpays to keep these same players (in a hypothetical situation nowadays anyways).

Clearly, the Ottawa Senators had to overpay a little to keep Bobby Ryan from going to market and leaving as a free agent for nothing. Sometimes a team has to do that and they simply have to live with the consequences with that decision at a later date. That is what is currently happening with the Ottawa Senators and Bobby Ryan.

I’m curious to see what the Nikita Zaitsev contract will look like in a few years time. Will the organization live to regret that trade, taking on that contract for that many years for a player that might end up disappointing or leaving you wanting more on most nights? These are the questions that linger in a hockey fanatic’s mind during the death days of summer.

Sens fans, do you agree that Bobby Ryan is the team’s worst contract on the books? Would you argue that Nikita Zaitsev is worse? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!

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