According to TSN Analyst Shawn Simpson, the Ottawa Senators should have cut their losses, and bought out the remaining years of Bobby Ryan's contract over the summer. Simpson said the team would have saved about $5.5 million of the remaining $22.5 million they would have had to pay the slumping 32-year-old, enough to pay for two entry-level salaries over the next three years.
"There's nothing gained on or off the ice keeping him around, and it would benefit both sides to move on," said Simpson.
As we reported Sunday, Ryan was a healthy scratch for that night's game against San Jose. Not often do you see a healthy player making north of $7 million a season sitting on the sidelines. After this current season, Ryan still has two more left on his contract, with an AAV of $7.25 million.
Since coming to Ottawa in 2013 via trade for forwards Jakob Silfverberg, Stefan Noesen and a first-round draft pick, Ryan has had two seasons where he cracked the 50 point mark. Decent, but still not what is expected of a player making his kind of money. His worst came in 2016-17, when he had just 25 points in 62 games.
A Twitter user challenged Simpson's assessment of the situation, saying the Sens need to work out a trade as Ryan is still "an NHL caliber player". Simpson replied simply "he's not."
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