Most Ottawa Senators fans were shocked when team captain and 18-year veteran Daniel Alfredsson bolted from the NHL club and signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings.However, to soften the blow of losing the 40-year-old unrestricted free agent, the Senators acquired forward Bobby Ryan from the Anaheim Ducks for a pair of prospects and Ottawa’s first-round draft pick in 2014. The prospects sent to Anaheim were forwards Stefan Noesen and Jakob Silfverberg.
Bob Murray, the general manager of the Ducks, needed to free up some salary cap space for the upcoming season after signing veteran forwards Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf to long-term multi-million dollar deals last season. After making the trade with the Senators, Murray also re-signed forward Saku Koivu for another season at $2.5 million.
Murray said the Senators put together the best package for the 26-year-old Ryan and the trade should help the Ducks now and in the future. He admitted that he was quite close to the salary cap and he doesn’t like to operate the club that way.
The Ducks have given up a consistent 30-goal scorer in Ryan. He has reached that mark four times during his career and was the third member of the team’s first line along with Perry and Getzlaf. He scored 11 goals and 19 assists in 46 games last season and has 289 points in 378 career regular season games. Ryan also has 15 points in 26 career playoff contests.
Many hockey insiders felt Ryan would end up in his hometown of Philadelphia to play with the Flyers last summer after he said the Ducks hadn’t acted like they wanted him anymore. He said he loved living and playing in the area and got along well with his teammates, but wasn’t comfortable with the organization itself.
Ryan’s salary took up $5.1 million a year on the club’s salary cap, and once Getzlaf re-signed for eight years for $66 million and Perry signed an extension for the same length of time at $69 million, the writing was on the wall.
Murray said Ryan acted with total class when he was informed of the trade and the player wasn’t really shocked with it even though it’s never an easy situation. The GM admitted that Ryan never really got the same opportunity that Getzlaf and Perry did and he was often second fiddle to that pair while he was in Anaheim. Murray stated that Ryan was a fantastic player for the Ducks and the franchise thanks him and wished him luck with the Senators.
In Noesen and Silfverberg Anaheim are acquiring two forwards with a lot of promise and one of them could eventually replace Ryan on the team’s top line.
The 22-year-old Silfverberg is a right winger who scored 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points in 48 games with Ottawa last season and added a pair of goals and assists for four points in 10 postseason contests.
The 20-year-old Noesen amassed 220 points over the last four years while playing in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Plymouth Whalers.
