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Quick hits: Should the Ducks move Ryan for D?

Bobby Ryan, Jimmy Howard

Anaheim Ducks right wing Bobby Ryan, left, celebrates his goal as Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard looks on in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

AP

Some assorted news from the NHL today, mainly focusing on two teams who are preparing for a summer full of margaritas and golf.

  • I was glancing at the league standings today and I noticed something that gave me “forgot someone’s birthday” type guilt; I must belatedly congratulate the Oilers for being the first team to be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Sorry guys, I have to admit if a special occasion isn’t spelled out plainly to me on my Facebook feed, I’m flat-out going to miss it. I really feel like I let you down on this one.
  • In other semi-Oilers news, unemployed coach du jour Craig MacTavish was named the head coach for Team Canada for this summer’s World Hockey Championships according to the Edmonton Journal. The tournament is a fun, if odd competition since the squads are often a hodgepodge of players who either missed the playoffs or were booted from them quite early. Some might bristle when I refer to it as “a consolation round” but in some weird way it really is kind of the NIT to the Stanley Cup Finals’ March Madness.
  • The Orange County Register’s Ducks Blog brings up the somewhat ludicrous trade proposal to send soon-to-be RFA Bobby Ryan to the Toronto Maple Leafs for defenseman Luke Schenn. (To be fair, they didn’t originate the trade rumor.) Here’s a snippet from that story.

So do you go the extra mile to keep Ryan, already a two-time 30-goal scorer who just turned 23? Or do you dangle Ryan as an attractive piece to beef up a problem area if he and the Ducks can’t hammer out a deal? The club doesn’t have to be rash as Ryan is a pending restricted free agent but the big winger will get a raise this summer. A big one.

Eh, there’s no doubt that the Ducks need help on defense (and there isn’t a whole lot of great defensive talent set to go the free agent route this summer) but I think both teams would risk some serious heartache if they made such a trade. Sure, it’s sort of an exchange of abundance (Ducks’ young forwards, Leafs’ many defensemen) to improve areas of weakness but I still would be very reluctant to make such a move. Especially considering the fact that the Ducks should see some serious monetary relief with the probable retirements of Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu.

Would you make that move if you were Bob Murray or Brian Burke?