Article content continued

“I was looking forward to getting back here to getting more involved than I have been (in negotiations), but as far as I knew, every discussion has been amicable and there haven’t been any breakdowns or anything like that,” said Ryan, who spends most of his summer in relative isolation in Idaho. “Everybody is confident that we’re going to start going with (serious negotiations) when everyone is in town.”

At the same time, Ryan is conscious of doing everything he can to keep his off-ice discussions out of the dressing room.

“I hope it doesn’t distract the other guys when they’re fielding questions about it. I know how hard it is to get asked questions about (Jason) Spezza’s status and stuff when he’s in the room. You never want to say anything that is going to make it worse for that individual.”

As for the topic of Spezza, whose trade request was granted when he was dealt to the Dallas Stars on July 1, Ryan says he remains friends with the former Senators captain. He talked with Spezza “several times” during the summer.

“We all knew he was ready to move on and at that point, you just want to be a friend and wish him well,” he said.

While Ryan will inherit some of the leadership gap in Spezza’s absence, the four-time 30-goal scorer also says it will be up to the entire team to kick in a bit more offensively to make up for the loss of Spezza’s point production.

Ryan, who scored 23 goals and 25 assists in 70 games before a sports hernia operation ended his season, says the club must adopt a more defensive mindset, echoing comments made by Clarke MacArthur earlier in the summer.