Michael Ryder Signs with Devils
Dobber Sports
2013-07-06
Fantasy Impact: The New Jersey Devils have signed winger Michael Ryder to a two-year deal worth $7 million.
The Devils get: a five-time 25-goal scorer (and last season pro-rates to a sixth time). Other than a couple of off-years with Boston, Ryder has been a consistent 55- to 60-point producer. He does tend to wear out his welcome with a team after two years (in terms of production slowdown and coach frustration). So actually, this contract really fits.
Fantasy Players Impacted: Ryder joins a team in desperate need of a second-line scorer on the wing. Talk about custom-made! There is no reason why Ryder can’t get 30 goals and 60 points this season.
Without this move, maybe Dainius Zubrus gets some time on a scoring line. Without this move, maybe Mattias Tedenby gets another look. Neither will happen now, but we expected as much. We knew the Devils would sign a winger of this mold and sure enough they have done so.
Potential Line Combos (I’ll take another stab at this, much as I did in the Ryane Clowe breakdown):
Patrik Elias – Travis Zajac – Ilya Kovalchuk
Ryane Clowe – Adam Henrique – Michael Ryder
Mattias Tedenby – Andrei Loktionov – Steve Bernier
Ryan Carter – Stephen Gionta – Dainius Zubrus
Stefan Matteau – Jacob Josefson – Krys Barch
Fantasy Players this helps, in order:
1. Ryder
2. Adam Henrique (or Travis Zajac, whoever misses out on playing with Kovalchuk
Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:
1. Tedenby
2. Zubrus