I think the Sens could afford Ryan for 2018-19 but not after that when Karlsson and Duchene (upcoming) extensions kick in
Now the focus should be to get rid of Burrows, Gaborik, Smith and Condon (or Anderson) contracts; all great Dorion extensions
After next season, Ryan will have only 3 years left and the cap could be close to 85 M$, which would make his cap hit only 8.5% of a team’s cap. If Ryan could avoid injuries next season, then he would become easy to move.
Anyway, that’s how I would manage it; get rid of the 4 contracts I mentioned earlier first
Note : Ryan is currently 132nd in PPG among the 363 forwards who played 41 games and more, despite his injury struggles. On average that’s #4-5 forward numbers on the average team
Sure he’s overpaid but he is still a +5 M$ forward. If you retain something like 2 M$ on his salary, I’m sure a team would take a flyer on him, and even give up assets to get him. Sens would have 1 top-6 forward less
Fun note : Lazar is 353rd on that list and Paajarvi is 360th. Not sure why so many Sens fans want to re-sign him