The reason I am not thrilled about Derek Ryan is that the Flames seem to need an offensive difference maker. Instead the Flames keep going after two way players, which is good; however, it also contributes to less creativity with a man advantage, or trailing late in a game.
As for faceoffs, I think they really depend on the team rather than just the centre. If your remember Brouwer had a 57% face off percentage in the two seasons before arriving to Calgary, it dropped to 32% in his first season here.
If the Flames get Ryan, I think he will get to play with Bennett and Jankowski on the right side, same idea as playing Lindholm on the first line. Janko would take faceoffs on the left side and Ryan on the right.
Another reason why I am a bit cautious when it comes to Ryan is that a lot of his offense comes from a good nose to the net. It seems that we have a lot of players that do just that, and not enough elite shots to generate the rebounds for guys like Ryan to score on.
It always comes down to the price is right, but I think Ryan will be looking at 3-4 years at 3-4.5M, which could get expensive for what he brings in my mind. Especially since Peters sees him as someone that can play on the PP and not the PK.
PS: I can't see more than a 30 point season from him in a Flames uniform.
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