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Ryan ‘absolutely’ considering signing in Ottawa long-term

Ottawa Senators v Toronto Maple Leafs

TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 1: Bobby Ryan #6 of the Ottawa Senators skates in the warm-up prior to playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at the Air Canada Centre on February 1, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Leafs defeated the Senators 6-3. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Claus Andersen

When Bobby Ryan was acquired from Anaheim last summer, many Sens fans were apprehensive about his contract -- mostly because it ran out after the 2014-15 campaign.

Today, those fans might be breathing a little earlier.

In speaking with the Ottawa Citizen, Ryan indicated he’d be more than willing to look at signing an extension with the Sens -- here’s more, from the Citizen:

“For me, I love it here. We love it here, more importantly. It’s been a great change for us,” said Ryan, in reference to his fiancée, Danielle Rhodes. “So, when the time comes, if that’s the route Bryan wants to go, we’ll sit down and have a conversation, certainly we’ll do that.”

Even the winter from hell doesn’t seem to have scared Ryan off. Yet.

Ryan was asked if he could see himself being in Ottawa on a long-term contract.

“Yeah, absolutely, and I said that in Anaheim,” said Ryan, drafted second overall by the Ducks in 2005, just behind Sidney Crosby. “When you get drafted by an organization or traded to an organization, you want to reward that organization, you want to be a part of that organization for a long-term deal.”

Ryan, 27, had an interesting first season in Ottawa. He finished with a respectable 23 goals and 48 points in 70 games, but was infamously left off the U.S. Olympic team (because he couldn’t spell intense, apparently) and was shut down last week after undergoing sports hernia surgery -- suggesting that some of his stretches of underwhelming play this year came as a result of trying to play through injury.

Overall, Ryan said he season was just so-so, but sounded appreciative of the organization recognizing he was gutting it out with the sports hernia.

“Everyone in the dressing room was supportive and wanted me to be out there, even if I wasn’t a hundred per cent,” he said. “I appreciated the guys for acknowledging that.”