Thanks to the news that the struggling Anaheim Ducks are willing to listen to offers on Bobby Ryan, fans for the other 29 respective NHL franchises are fawning over the possibility that the right winger could headed to their favorite team.
In some hockey circles, many are already suggesting that Brian Burke, the former GM in Anaheim and the man whose scouting staff drafted Ryan, could be the most aggressive in the pursuit of the skilled winger. Listening to esteemed journalist Stephen Brunt ask Nick Kypreos whether “he’d willingly give up (Luke) Schenn and (Nazim) Kadri for Ryan”, might have been the funniest thing that I had heard today until @steffeG trumped it by tweeting, “Schenn will get you that whole line.”
For those of you wondering whether the Senators are interested, here’s a little nugget of information from The Fourth Period:
It’s believed the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators have shown interest in the 24-year-old.
Believed to be interested?
That’s hilarious. I guess typing the names of all the respective NHL franchises would ruin one’s credibility, but think of the pageviews that would be generated from that kind of metadata!
Now where was I?
Ah yes, why the hell wouldn’t the Senators be interested in Ryan?
As a 24-year old top-six forward, he would naturally fit in with the young nucleus of players that management has started to assemble. Hell, as much as I don’t want to even talk abs out it, he’d even be a nice little security blanket in the event that Daniel Alfredsson decides to retire or asks for a trade.
However, there’s a fine line between doing your duty as a GM and actually being a viable trade partner for a player. (Just Bryan Murray who once infamously inquired on Evgeni Malkin after reading an article that the Penguins’ star might be available and was laughed at for his efforts by Ray Shero.)
So it stands to reason that Ottawa’s included on any shortlist because they’re simply not a good enough team for Murray not to do his due diligence and kick the tires on what GM Bob Murray (no relation) would be looking for. However, if you’re holding your breath hoping that he’ll be able to pull the trigger on a deal and bring Ryan into the fold here, odds are you’re probably wasting your time.
As one of those teams that appears to be heavily invested in the present (a crazy concept considering the won the Stanley Cup just four years ago), Anaheim strikes me as an organization that still has playoff aspirations. If they’re really serious about moving Ryan, it’s going to take a boatload of NHL-ready talent that will give them the depth and skill to make them a better team now.
Considering that Bryan Murray has already publicly stated that he’s not willing to mortgage the future to bring in someone to bolster any interim playoff expectations, I don’t envision any scenario that sees him back the truck up so that he can overpay Anaheim.
Furthermore, it strikes me as odd that an organization intent on retooling would start by moving its young perennial 30-goal forward who’s under team control through the 2014-15 season.
Red flag, much?
Injuries Beset the Senators
Although Daniel Alfrdsson and Peter have spent some time on the sidelines earlier this season, I suppose it was only a matter before a number of Senators players were hit with the injury bug at some point this season. Nikita Filatov played only 3 minutes and 30 seconds before leaving the first period of last night’s game with a broken nose. Shortly thereafter, Filip Kuba left the game after getting hit awkwardly into the boards. It looked like an upper body injury. At points, Erik Karlsson and Colin Greening looked pretty banged up too.
All-Star Fan Balloting Results Through Week 2
The NHL has released its fan balloting through week two and Phil Kessel (258,446) has moved atop Erik Karlsson (256,839) for the league’s top vote getter. Daniel Alfredsson (233,868) and Jason Spezza (209,455) are ranked second and third amongst forwards, however, on the heels of his ridiculous performances last week, Sidney Crosby (206,863) is coming on strong.
If you haven’t voted, you can do so by checking out vote.nhl.com. Vote early and vote often – up to thirty times per media platform (ie. cellphone, computer, texting, etc.)
Former Senators Farmhand Gets Punted From the KHL
You know how you know you’re a bad hockey player?
The league that you play in invents rules on the fly that bar you from competing.
Thanks to the actions of the KHL’s Vityaz Chekhov, the league is now taking measures to rid itself of “tough guys” like former Senators farmhand, Jeremy Yablonski.
From Puck Daddy:
KHL president Alexander Medvedev told Sovetsky Sport that the league wants to limit the number of tough guys any given team can have on its roster in any given day to just one.
“If, in place of Yablonski, Vityaz is going to welcome “Yablonski-2″ this season, then the League will issue an order that a game roster can only have one player with the reputation of being a tough guy.” [There was no definition of what the “reputation of being a tough guy” actually means]
But the impact is actually going to be much broader. The actual Yablonski Rule that is now being finalized and will be implemented soon will impact all U.S. and Canadian born players [note, only U.S. and Canadian], regardless of whether they are tough guys or just career minor leaguers.
“We are drafting a resolution under which players from Canada and USA will be allowed to play in the KHL only if they satisfy the League’s criteria (excluding those who come over after being drafted). There will be certain entry criterion implemented, which, in essence, will have only one consideration — the number of games in the NHL. The exact number is being discussed right now, but the range considered is 80 to 120 games. This number of games should be enough to talk about [player’s] qualification. Europeans will not be affected by this.”
Yabo!
And yes, in case you’re wondering, with 115 NHL games under his belt, Francis Lessard would qualify for KHL duty.
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