Bobby Ryan gets first taste of Ottawa Senators media

Ottawa Senators sniper Bobby Ryan is quickly realizing on the hockey map, Anaheim couldn’t get much further away from Ottawa in every possible sense. In Anaheim, players are free to go about their on-ice and off-ice lives without a care in the world. Sure they’ll do a couple of postgame interviews, but it’s not like they’re getting interrupted for autographs every time they sit down at a nice restaurant. Ottawa is a different story.

After picking up an assist in his first two games as an Ottawa Senator, Bobby Ryan is already defending himself. Once Daniel Alfredsson left Ottawa for Detroit in the offseason, the Senators were looking to fill an offensive void up front. They found a perfect fit in Ryan, who often played third or fourth fiddle in Anaheim’s game plan and still managed to put up four 30-goal seasons in the NHL. Ryan was supposed to slide into a top-line assignment with Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek and take the Atlantic Division by storm. So far, that hasn’t happened and the Ottawa media wants to know why.

“There are a little bit of kinks to work out,” Ryan told reporters. “Two games in, I don’t understand why it’s such a panic button. … It’s a long time before the playoffs. There’s plenty of hockey to play.”

But such is life in hockey-mad Ottawa, so while Ryan might not understand, he’d better get used to this line of questioning even if it’s premature, which it certainly is. Ryan has seven shots in two games, so he’s getting chances. Add that to the fact that he’s adjusting to the Eastern Conference, a new city, and new linemates and you’d think he’d get a pass for at least the first couple of weeks. He hasn’t exactly had an easy road to the NHL either, which this Sportsnet presentation illustrates.

It’s not like he’s the only one trying to find his footing either.  Spezza and Michalek are coming back from serious injuries they suffered last season and the team itself is trying to adapt to life without Alfredsson at the helm. So with all this going on, you’d think everyone in Ottawa would be pretty impressed with the club taking three out of a possible four points to start the season. And that’s where you’d be wrong. Welcome to Ottawa, Bobby Ryan.

The good news is the Senators head out for a week-long western road trip beginning Wednesday in Los Angeles. Once Ryan gets through a date with the Ducks on Oct. 13, everything should start falling in place – at least let’s all hope so, for his sake.