The big question for the Ottawa Senators heading into the 2014-15 season surrounded Bobby Ryan’s uncertain future with the team. Now that the star winger has signed a seven-year, $50.75-million contract extension, Sens fans can rest easy knowing they have an elite forward in the prime of his career locked up.
Even though he’s coming off a disappointing season in terms of goals and total points—really, the entire 2013-14 campaign was a forgettable one for the Sens—the 27-year-old Cherry Hill, N.J., native has been one of the most consistent goal scorers since the 2008-09 season.
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Ryan has one year left on his current deal with a cap hit of $5.1 million, which is a number that puts him in similar range to the likes of James Neal, Jeff Carter, Radim Vrbata, Shane Doan and David Clarkson.
However, when Ryan’s new monster deal kicks in at the start of the 2015-16 season and his cap hit increases to $7.25 million, expectations of him will also increase.
With that in mind, here’s a look at how Ryan’s new deal compares with others in the league.
Note: All salary figures and cap hits are according to CapGeek.
Phil Kessel, RW, Toronto Maple Leafs
Annual cap hit: $8 million
Ryan and Kessel are both right-handed shots from the United States, drafted in the top five by American teams only to be traded to a Canadian club. Now they’re the faces of the Battle of Ontario and will be for the next eight years—assuming neither of them gets traded or bought out.
The Leafs locked up Kessel last October with an eight-year, $64-million extension that kicks in this season. That’s a slightly longer term and slightly higher cap hit than Ryan’s new deal, but based on what we’ve seen of them it’s justified.
Ryan has 165 goals in the last six seasons. The only American-born NHLer with more goals than Ryan in that time period is Kessel who has 192. Ryan is the better two-way player and isn’t afraid to throw his six-foot-two, 200-plus-pound frame around, but neither guy is paid for their hit totals. Their main job is to put the puck into the back of the net and to this point in their respective careers, Kessel has proven to be the more dangerous offensive threat.
Zach Parise, LW, Minnesota Wild
Annual cap hit: $7,538,462
Parise inked one of the last mega-long-term deals when he signed a whopping 13-year, $98-million contract with the Wild prior to the NHL introducing a new limit on the length of contracts.
Unlike Ryan’s deal, Parise’s is front-loaded. He made $12 million in each of the first two years of his deal and will make $11 million this season—that’s not including the $25 million in bonuses he was owed over the first three years of his deal. But, in the last three years of the deal he’ll take home a total of $4 million. Ryan’s contract is more evenly dispersed with him making no less than $6.5 million and no more than $7.5 million in any given year.
Parise is currently surrounded by more talent in Minnesota than Ryan is in Ottawa. He also has leadership intangibles that Ryan is still developing. In the last four seasons, Parise’s .805 points-per-game average is a tad better than Ryan’s .736.
Daniel Sedin, LW, Vancouver Canucks
Annual cap hit: $7 million
Stylistically, Ryan and Sedin are very different players. The Canucks veteran likes getting settled in the offensive zone and plays a patient, puck possession game, while Ryan is more explosive and deadly on the rush and in open ice.
Sedin’s $7-million cap hit is fair because of his resume and the chemistry he still has with his brother, but since leading the league in scoring and winning the Ted Lindsay Award in 2011, the Swede’s production has dipped. He only had 16 goals, 31 assists in 73 games last season in what was his worst campaign in a decade.
Ryan’s stock is on the rise, while Sedin’s seems to be heading in the opposite direction.
Rick Nash, LW, New York Rangers
Annual cap hit: $7.8 million
Nash signed an eight-year, $62.4-million contract extension in 2009 that kicked in at the start of the 2010-11 season when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The top pick from the 2002 NHL Draft, who’s now with the Rangers, is regarded as a world-class talent—his two Olympic gold medals suggest he absolutely is one—but his NHL numbers don’t necessarily reflect that.
Nash has only averaged more than a point-per-game in one of his 11 NHL seasons and he struggled with just 39 points in 65 games last season.
Also, Nash’s point totals have steadily declined since his latest deal kicked in. Sens GM Bryan Murray and the team’s fan base certainly hope Ryan’s output doesn’t take a similar path.
Alexander Semin, RW, Carolina Hurricanes
Annual cap hit: $7 million
The Hurricanes brought Semin in as a free agent on a one-year, $7-million deal in the summer of 2012 and his point-per-game production during the lockout-shortened season was enough to earn him a five-year extension with the same cap hit.
Since 2007-08, the year Ryan broke into the league in, Semin has 14 more goals and 62 more points than Ryan despite only playing in one more game than the Senators star during that stretch.
Despite the fact Semin has put up better point totals, the consensus is Ryan’s ceiling is higher.
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