Everyone knows the number of goals doesn't matter for a non-goal scorer. Marner has "only" 26 goals despite 93 points; Wheeler has 20 goals but 90 points; Giroux 22 goals 83 points, Kuznetsov ad Malkin 21 goals 72 points, Krejci 19 goals 71 points, Johansen 14 goals 64 points, the list goes on.
Are fans looking at their season saying it's disappointing as they only have x number of goals? No, they're not that clueless.
Ryan has 41 pts this season, missed 5 games (if he's missing tonight). 131 forwards have more than 41 points, which means it's still 2nd line production. You wish he was producing more or be paid less, but everyone knows he's overpaid, but he's far from being alone. Let's also note that he played mostly on the last place team 3rd line and that he is 178th in TOI/GP among forwards. Very far from being disastrous the way his haters will try to sell you.
I think this season has been a step forward for Ryan on the basis that he has remained healthy and played a majority of the season.
A buyout saves no money for Ottawa due to his signing bonuses and the cost of a replacement player. If we are actually aiming to compete in 2021, it makes more sense keep Ryan on the books now when we have so little money committed rather than spread his money out over 6 years.
There's also the prospect of a lockout. While he has a 2M signing bonus that he'll be paid, if there is a full or half season lockout, we don't pay him up to 5.5 of his remaining 22.5 million. If we buy him out, we miss that opportunity.
I have gotten some grief from other posters this previous off season for saying that I don't think a team would take Ryan for free at half retained. I still think that's the case. While this season has been a plus for him staying healthy, I think he'd need either higher production, or a longer streak of healthy okay before a team would risk Ryan at 3 years at almost 4 million per season in cap.
The only solution might be to find a Phaneuf/Gaborik type deal. We retain and take back some bad contracts that have high cap but low money owed due to insurance. I am guessing when Dorion acquired Gaborik, he knew Gaborik would "fail" his physical the next season.
If you think that teams can't do worse than 3 years x 3.625 for a 0.53 PPG forward (exact same production the last 2 seasons) on the UFA market, then it's your opinion. Many teams could have used an additional ~45 pts forward.
You told me last summer that it was in large part because he was missing a lot of games. Well, he only missed 5 this year and only Paajarvi and Tierney will have played more on the Sens.
3.625 (50% of his cap) is NOT a huge salary in today's NHL. This year, 165 forwards have made more and that's only because many ELCs and RFAs forwards are a "bargain" for now. Next year, already 149 forwards will make more than that, but there will be quite a lot more with the signings in the off-season. Funny because that's the same number (149) of forwards who have scored more points in the last 2 years combined (74 pts) and Ryan missed 25 games.
The Sens would never do that though, paying Ryan 3.625 M$ per year to see him produce 50 pts on another team because he was well on his way to do it before the deadline firesale. They're stupid, but not that stupid.