Farewell Bobby. You made my love of hockey real again. You had the potential to excite Ducks Nation every time the puck was on your tape, we all wish you nothing but the best. That being said, the NHL is more of a business rather than a family these days. I didn’t mean to upset Bob with my last article, I actually didn’t even want Ryan traded. I have 2 Jerseys, a puck, a fowl towel, and a rookie card all signed by Bobby, he WAS my favorite Duck.

This though, was inevitable. Ever since last year, the strain between upper management and #9 was palpable, being capped off by an article posted Draft day of last year with Ryan basically saying to a Philly media outlet, “trade me.” With Ryan’s deal set to expire at the end of the 2014-2015 season, he was never going to hit the Free Agent market fresh out of a Ducks sweater.

His fate as a Duck came to fruition today when Ryan was traded to the Senators for Jakub Silfverberg, Stefan Noeson, and a 2014 1st-round pick. Now, this year I took advantage of the discounted NHL Gamecenter and chose a team from each time-zone to watch, just to get my monies worth. You guessed it, for my eastern standard time slot I chose Ottawa.

I didn’t watch these games as intently as I do the Ducks, but when Silfverberg came up during the season, he was reason enough to watch closely. The kid, in my eyes, is the complete package (Great release, good speed, and has a high ceiling if he plays with Getz).

Now to Noeson, from what I’ve read, he has the ability to become a top 6 2-way forward, a type of player that would be great for this team going forward. Noeson also played in the OHL with Ducks Prospect Rickard Rakell, Noeson led the team in points while paired with Rakell.

Essentially in this trade, the Ducks got 3 first round picks, one that is NHL ready, one that needs a bit more growing, and one that is fresh for the picking.

My Verdict: Win.

What’s yours?