Detroit Red Wings forward Bobby Ryan happens to be playing on a one-year contract, and has been listed as a prime candidate to be flipped at the trade deadline in exchange for draft capital.
But until or if that happens, Ryan is certainly enjoying his time wearing the Winged Wheel.
“When I signed, I knew that was going to be a possibility,” Ryan said. “If I came in and played well, it would be a win-win situation. Possibly for me it’d be an opportunity to go somewhere and be in a playoff race, and for the team to get an asset. I understand the business side of that thing.”
Ryan has also hinted at the possibility of a potential return to Detroit should indeed he be dealt at the deadline.
“We have loved every single moment of it,” Ryan said. “feel fortunate I’ve gotten to play here, wear the Winged Wheel. I love the group, love the coaching. Everything about it has been an incredible experience, so if there is an opportunity for me to come back in the summer, it will be a conversation that Steve will have with me. And I don’t know what his plans are, but it will be very, very high on my list. I absolutely love it here.”
As expected, the Red Wings aren’t in the current playoff picture, and there have been stretches of play that have been frustrating to watch. But for Ryan and the Red Wings, they feel they’re on the right rack,.
“I think in our last eight or nine games, our brand of hockey has been a lot better,” Ryan said. “We’ve gotten a way from it a few, but that’s a team that’s growing. We are starting to put some things in place that can help us be way more competitive. We are starting to stay the course a little bit better.”
Despite the their record in the standings not being ideal, Ryan is happy to be with a group of players with, as he put it, a “quiet resolve”.
“I would say there’s a very quiet resolve within the guys that know they are going to be here for a while, that they are building something, that the results aren’t immediate,” Ryan said. “They are not getting down every day. They come back to work. That starts with Larks. I think he has guys all pulling on the same rope in the same direction, and that speaks a lot to him. He’s not a rah-rah guy, he just comes in and leads by example, his work ethic, the way he is around the room, the way he handles himself. Guys follow that.
“They are committed to the process of getting better every day and that they are going to be here for the turnaround. I am excited for them, I really am. It’s just a great group of young guys in that room.”
– – Quotes via Helene St. James of The Detroit Free Press Link – –
