Last week, the Anaheim Ducks sent Bobby Ryan down to their AHL affiliate in Iowa.
Ryan, who is affectionately known as "the guy drafted right after Crosby," has only appeared in 23 NHL games. His appearances have been sporadic—which is another way of saying that he hasn't been given a chance.
Last evening was supposed to be Ryan's formal debut, and he was penciled-in to play on the first line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Instead, the Ducks sent out a lineup that featured Travis Moen playing on the first line.
It was simply impossible for the Ducks to meet their salary cap requirements without demoting Bobby Ryan to the minor leagues.
Or at least that's what Brian Burke wants you to believe.
If you take a look at the Ducks' roster, you'll find five forwards who are capable of scoring. The rest of the forwards are defensive players who are really good at hitting and backchecking.
Most of them cannot skate, score, or stay out of the penalty box. A few of them were inherited when Burke took over as GM, but most are recent additions.
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One of those recent additions is Brian Sutherby, a center who plays a grinding, in-your-face brand of hockey. He was with the Ducks last season, and Burke offered him a $700,000 extension over the summer.
Another one is Ryan Carter, who played a few solid games for the Ducks last season before injuring his wrist in an accident during pregame warmups. Carter was offered an extension worth $625,000.
The combined total for Carter and Sutherby is $1.325 million.
The Ducks need to shed $1.2 million to bring Bobby Ryan back up to the squad. See where I'm going with this?
Carter and Sutherby were both signed to one-way contracts. It is therefore impossible for the Ducks to send them to the minors without risking a waiver claim. For some reason, Burke thought it prudent to sign his unimportant players to deals that restrict their movement.
Or maybe he thought he could trade Todd Marchant.
Trading Marchant would be the easiest way to make room for Ryan, but no sane GM will take Marchant's contract. He also has a no-trade clause, which makes it difficult (though not impossible) to trade him.
So that leads us to where the Ducks currently stand—their replacement-level players are preventing the hot prospect from beginning his career.
Burke is not at fault for Marchant's overblown salary, but he is responsible for just about everything else. Signing two redundant checking-line forwards before clearing room for Bobby Ryan was a bad decision. Grit is easily replaced. Goals are not.
I suppose Burke thought he could unload Marchant and Mathieu Schneider before training camp. He was wrong. And unless one of the Ducks' checking-line forwards can find a way to produce on a scoring line, it will end up costing him dearly.
Luckily, Burke has about 28 checking-line forwards to choose from.
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about 1 month ago
Nice article Bobby..I'm going to set you up with the NHL Community Coordinator on B/R
about 1 month ago
Carter and Sutherby are borderline useless, and as you stated not nearly as talented as Ryan. Both Carter and Sutherby could be moved to bring up Ryan who would help the Ducks become a terrible scoring team much like last year. Yes with Teemu back the team will score more, but this team has just as many holes as last year in scoring. With the defense weaker than last due to the cap the Ducks must address a solution to scoring more, and Ryan with the Chops is not the answer. Great article and welcome to Bleacher Report!
about 1 month ago
You can Blame the NHLPA on this one. If they had simply said they were pleased with the current deal, bonus' don't count against the cap, Burke is fine and Ryan is starting his career. But because the PA didn't say they were pleased, bonuses count against the cap and Ryan is in the AHL....Maybe he should file a grievance against the PA.
from about 1 month ago
Bonuses have always counted against the cap, but teams used to be allowed to disregard the bonus on one player. It allowed teams to go slightly over the cap. So yes, if the NHLPA had extended the current CBA, Bobby Ryan would be playing right now.
Burke was put in a tough situation by the NHLPA, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he made some questionable decisions. He signed several unnecessary players over the offseason.
about 1 month ago
AMEN, AMEN AND AMEN.
about 1 month ago
Agreed. Except for Carter. He's a speed player but costs less than Ryan.
from about 1 month ago
I have nothing against Carter, but he should have been signed to a two-way deal.
If the Ducks could dump Brad May and keep Carter, that would be perfect. But since that was impossible, Carter should be in the minors or the free agent pool instead.
about 1 month ago
Carter was injured during a game....get the facts straight
from about 1 month ago
He actually stuck his hand through the photographer's partition in the glass during warmups. I believe he played during the game and then had an x-ray afterwards revealing the wrist injury.
about 1 month ago
Burke's only claim to fame was thanks to the building of a team by someone else. His house of cards is falling and his lack of understanding what it takes to be a successful GM is showing brighter and brighter. He'll leave the Ducks for any team that offers him a way out so that he doesn't have to take responsibility for his actions. Thankfully for the Ducks, this will be a good thing.
from about 1 month ago
I've heard that argument before, and it's not true. The only players he inherited from Bryan Murray were Getzlaf and Perry. McDonald and Penner were both discovered by assistant GM David McNab, who is still with the Ducks.
Bryan Murray's final Duck team went 29-35-10-8 (76 points) and did not not make the playoffs. Burke got rid of the overpaid underachievers on that team (Fedorov, Sykora, Prospal, Carney, Ozolinsh) and was able to acquire S. Niedermayer, Pronger, Selanne, Kunitz (again), and Beauchemin to replace them.
But it was all downhill from there...
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