I think Ryan is less than ideal, in a 4th line role. Personally, I like an aggressive and physical 4th line. Ryan is just not that guy but his defensive skills would be missed. I wonder if it'd be possible to upgrade him.
With the new management on the Pens and the apparent agenda to win now, despite probably being ready for a rebuild, Hextall has his work cut out for him. With next to no capspace or picks and and empty prospect pool, this seems like a pretty tall order. Would something like Ryan + 2nd for Tanev make sense?
Ryan is still useful and an expiring contract. The move would free up approximately $6 million in capspace, before the expansion draft and two picks in the first 4 rounds, for the Pens. For us, I'm not a fan of his contract and we probably couldn't protect him but if he's selected, it could simply be viewed as deadline shopping, prior to the deadline.