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[QUOTE=Blind Gardien;6263675]The real problem with Ryan is that he just didn't get it with respect to how the Habs wanted him to behave... or by contrast, the Habs just didn't get it that they weren't going to be able to rehabilitate Ryan into one of their fine upstanding young men. That he was picked by previous management never helped him either. Basically, I'd say it was a combination of the Habs dropping the ball on his development plus injuries. If there had been any willingness in the early days on the Habs part to make some exceptions for him, try a bit harder to get through to him, he might have made it through ok. But I never got the impression that the Habs really cared to invest the effort. He was their second choice from Day 1. Ryan might have thought that a couple of years in the minors wasn't necessary, and considering the dubious "quality" of the teams in those years, he might have had a point. He didn't look out of place in training camp. He could have stayed on. But he just never "got it", and never seemed to change his attitude or learn any discipline.
Guys with those knocks *do* make it into the NHL. Ryan was no worse than some. But the Habs gave up and loaned him out, then let him walk away, and his injury troubles just kept piling up so that he never really got another chance to have a new beginning with another team, like most other players in that situation do. Bad luck all around for him. And for the Habs too, really.
In the WHL he was one of the bigger players and this gave him more time and space to score goals. In the NHL, he was simply not big enough to warrant that kind of respect, and was not given then room he was used too, so he was never able to put up the numbers. Also, trying to get that respect, led to concussion problems.
Then the Habs tried to paint him as a goon, and he simply was not big enough for that, and his holdout one year did not help the situation.
Oh, well.
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