Michael Ryder Ready to Fill Scoring Void Left By Phil Kessel

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Sep 28, 2009

At this time last year, Bruins forward Michael Ryder was getting used to his new teammates and the city of Boston. In his four previous NHL seasons, Ryder was wearing le bleu, blanc and rouge of the rival Canadiens but now he was on the other side of the rivalry draped in black and gold.

But as Ryder pointed out, the Bruins are an easy team to fit into both on and off the ice and that’s why — just as he found his niche last season — he knows whether it is him or another winger, someone will settle into the vacant spot on the top line left by Phil Kessel’s departure.

“This team, and I realized it last year when I got here, has so much depth and really we have the type of players that are interchangeable, so if it isn’t me there, someone will find success there,” said Ryder who rode shotgun on the right wing of the top line in the team’s final preseason game Saturday night. “There’s so much talent here and we’ve had to adjust before so we all have chemistry.”

Of course with Marc Savard centering that top line, it wouldn’t be a reach to say that anyone could find some bit of success taking passes from one of the best playmakers in the NHL. But the Bruins don’t need just anyone; they need someone to at least come close to the 36 goals that Kessel buried in 2008-09.

“We know what we had there, but we’re past that now and I think we have the guys to do the job,” Ryder said. “A lot of us have skills that compliment each other and we can play together.”

Will Ryder be that guy? He didn’t exactly make a strong case for the job Saturday or during the preseason and head coach Claude Julien cautioned the media to not read too much into Ryder playing with Savard and Milan Lucic.

“This was just a one-game thing, and I wouldn’t read too much into it,” Julien said. “I said right from the start I would use different players with Savy and see what happens from there.”

Julien also sent a subtle message to Ryder, that regardless of where he plays, he needs to have a faster start than he did in his first season in Boston.

“He’s been OK, and that’s Michael in a nutshell,” Julien said of Ryder’s preseason performance. “Hopefully he finds his touch sooner this year than he did last year. It took over a month before he started scoring. This year he should be used to the team and his teammates, and hopefully he’ll have a quicker start.”

Ryder is confident that he can have that start and if needed he is willing to have it playing along side Savard and Lucic rather than his usual linemates David Krejci and Blake Wheeler.

“I played with them last year a few games so it wasn’t that much of an adjustment,” Ryder said of Savard and Lucic. “Savy sees the ice, and it’s up to me and Lucic. We have to create chances and get the puck to Savy. The three of us bring different things to the table. If you put it all together we can get used to each other a little more and I think we can make it work. Savy is a good passer and he finds holes to give you the puck to shoot. Lucic bangs and creates space.”

Ryder knows that he will have to create space as well and admitted that when he plays off the boards and controls the puck the way he is capable of, he usually finds success.

“I know I have to do better there,” Ryder said. “If I’m playing my game the way I’m supposed to, then that helps the whole line, not just me and then we’ll score.”

But whether he is on the top line or not, Ryder knows he will find chemistry with his linemates and he joked he will know what bench or penalty box to go to when the Bruins play the Habs in Montreal.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll go to the wrong box or bench like last year,” Ryder said with a laugh recalling his first visit to the Bell Centre as a Bruin. “But yeah, we have so many good players here with so many different styles but we are all used to each other because we’ve had to try different things due to injuries before. I like where I usually play but I also like playing with Looch and Savy. Whatever they need, I’ll do.”

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