Why does Vegas want to take the wasted cap hit of Ryan. Clarkson is on LTIR he doesn't hurt the Vegas cap at all.

Excellent observations, maybe salary rentetion, but Melnyk is so cheap.

I believe Ottawa's days are numbered

Its hard to see Ryan moving anywhere without Salary being retained. That being said I see similarities between Ryan and Kessel, LET ME FINISH!. Obviously not in point production. However, if you can get him to an organization that he wants to play for and make him work his wasted ass off in the offseason, who knows? I see a trade partner with San Jose, move EK and BR to the sharks and take whatever rookies and picks they can get.

Ryan I could see rebounding back to mid-40 point production for the right team, the problem is his contract pays him like a 65-75 point player for the next 4 years. Kessel's "down year" with Toronto he scored 61 points. These guys aren't in the same ball park, as Kessel was and still is in the prime of his career, where as Ryan has been fading. I don't think he's done, but that contract is just too much of a risk for any team to "buy low" on him without serious incentive. Vegas isn't giving up much here, but financially it doesn't make sense for them.

I don't see what the Islanders motivation for the deal would be here, and why they'd have to give up Brock Nelson as part of the deal? Anderson is better than Gneiss sure, but he's 37 and coming off the worst year of his career. The Islanders aren't exactly looking like they are making the playoff push so why would they even want the likely slight upgrade? Nelson also carries far more value than Anderson at this point.

I completely agree, I guess I more so meant a stricter GM/couch/team and new location could help him. I see no way Ryan moves without another bad contract going back the other way, or retained salary. If you could somehow get him at 5mill a year he may, MAY, be more worth it. I think he needs to bust his ass this summer, get a new nutritionist and trainer. He has the money lol, he can afford it.