from Ken Warren of the Ottawa Sun,

Now, teams may have thought they were close to making a deal with the Senators, but only GM Pierre Dorion knows for sure. Either way, there’s no doubt conversations will pick up again after the season. The Senators will surely entertain trade talks for Karlsson at the draft, and in order to get the captain, they’ll ask that Ryan is included in the package.

The Senators will try and move the former 30-goal scorer, not because he’s a bad player or bad person — the opposite is true in both cases, actually — but because he’s not worth the $7.25-million cap hit they have him at for four more seasons.

Ryan gets it. Both he and wife Danielle like Ottawa and want to stay. But he also sees the writing on the wall....

“I understand with my contract and the obligations, that I haven’t performed up to a $7-million player,” he said. “But that’s something that happens. That’s the business side of things. I try to separate it when I get to the rink. I don’t worry about what’s going on over there, in the other hallway, I just worry about what’s in front of me. That’s all you can do.”

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