‘DUMB THING’
Sens’ Ryan not happy about Turris slashes, but insists there’s nothing more to it
I believe Bobby Ryan to be a truthful man.
But I don’t believe him for a second when he says the fight he had with former teammate Kyle Turris on Monday night was all about a gutless slash or two to his hands.
That’s part of it, of course. Ryan had every right to be livid. But it sure feels like there’s more to the story.
This was the first time Ryan and Turris had played against each other since the latter was traded to the Nashville Predators 13 months ago. Ryan missed the two games against the Predators last February because of one of his many hand injuries. Turris missed last week’s game in Nashville because of an unspecified ailment.
Just past the 12-minute mark of the second period on Monday, Turris gave Ryan a couple of hacks near the Senators’ blue line. Finally, Ryan finally turned around and cleaned Turris’s clock.
It’s bizarre to see teammates of four years go at each other like that. Especially non-fighters. It never happens.
Did the altercation have anything to do with the divide in the Senators locker room last season caused by the feuding spouses of Erik Karlsson and Mike Hoffman? Possibly. It’s thought the Ryans and Turris were on different sides.
Could it be two of the Senators top offensive players from 2013-17 — linemates through much of that time — never actually liked each other? That wouldn’t be a surprise. They are polar-opposite personalities. Ryan speaks his mind. He’s a guy you’d like to sit down with for a beer. Turris is quiet and conservative. No one is less quotable. He comes across as a milk and cookies type.
“I had no issues with Turrey,” Ryan insisted after Tuesday’s practice. "You’re not always as close with people that you play with all the time. We were teammates, did a lot of things together, played a lot of games, functions … I wouldn’t say we were overly close, but we were cordial, that’s for sure.
“Never had any issues,” he repeated, “so there’s really nothing to read into, fellas.”
Perhaps the story would have been put to bed the night before had it been addressed after the Senators’ 4-3 overtime victory over the Predators. But, when Turris was asked about the scrap, he essentially offered up no comment.
“It is what it is,” he said when a “just the emotions of a game” reply would have made you think that was all it was.
Ryan declined media requests late Monday night. When he did stand before a scrum the next day, he was not as comfortable and smooth as he usually is in such a setting. His body language suggested he’d rather be elsewhere or discussing just about any other topic.
“We just kind of got into it,” Ryan said. “Felt like he slashed me in the hands, gave him a push, he gave me another push … and it turned into a fight. Nothing more to it, really, to be honest.”
Ryan played all but one game of the 2015-16 campaign. In his other four seasons with the Senators, he has missed significant time with broken fingers.
“I didn’t like the slash,” he said. “(Turris) knows the history, right? He’s been here. Felt like he got me right on the the fingers. He gave me a whack, I gave him a whack. Just kind of traded back and forth until it became more.”
Did it surprise you he’d go after your hands?
“No. It wasn’t a surprise to me at all,” Ryan said.
It wasn’t? Why? “Because I stole the puck from him, and Turry is always a guy that has his stick going,” Ryan said. “He’s always whacking. I don’t know if he was mad at the play, that I came back and got the puck or whatnot, but he gave be a whack. And I don’t even know if he was trying to go for my hands. He might have just been trying to whack me because he was mad. That kind of stuff happens.”
But isn’t it like going after a guy’s knee after he’s had major surgery on it?
“Yes and no,” Ryan said. “I mean, it’s a weird situation because hands are kind of the laughing stock. Everybody makes fun of my fingers and hands already, so I’m very well used to it. I don’t correlate it to a major body part like a knee.
“But it’s kind of a dumb thing to do, yeah.”
And probably not very wise for a guy with his hand history and just coming off a concussion to fight.
“You forget, right?” Ryan said. “You don’t even think. You get caught up in what’s going on, the emotion that’s happening, then your adrenalin kicks in. Hands and concussions were the last thing on my mind at the moment, that’s for sure.”
Ryan was asked if the scouting report on him should now include his ability to land punches as a southpaw.
“I’m left-handed in everything I do but hockey ... The only person who knows that is (Senators winger Ryan Dzingel) because Zings lived with me,” he said. “I kicked his ass a few times.”
Defenceman Mark Borowiecki joked that Ryan ended the bout when he gave Turris a “Stone Cold Stunner.” What was he thinking as he watched them duke it out?
“They’re both pretty good buddies of mine. I was like, 'No one get hurt, please,'" Borowiecki said, laughing.
“I kind of saw it developing a little bit. They were giving some whacks and stuff. Then it just kind of came out of nowhere. It’s one of those things. An emotional game, it boils over. It’s the way she goes, man.”
Senators head coach Guy Boucher also shrugged off the fight as no big deal.
“I’ve been on the ice since I’m three years old. I’m 47. It’s been 44 years I’ve been in this game, so I’ve seen quite a few things,” Boucher said. “There’s worse things that happen between brothers in the living room. I’m more scared of February, when we meet Calgary. Hope the Tkachuks and the Stones don’t get at it because then both mothers will come after me.”
But to slash an ex-teammates hands when he knows full well the problems and frustrations he’s had with them?
“Former teammates are enemies when they get on the ice,” Boucher said. “That’s what it is. You want to win, they want to win. I’ve got some great friends in coaches and, when we go at it, we’re not friends during the game. That’s how it is. It’s a business where you want to win, and all the people that are in the NHL are highly, highly, highly competitive. I don’t even let my kids win at table hockey. It’s not just for me, it’s for everybody. You do whatever you can to win. When the game is over, it’s over. And then you can laugh about whatever, but, during the game, nobody’s laughing.”
Ryan and Turris weren’t laughing as they sat in the penalty box, jawing at each other.
“Christmas stuff, Christmas greetings,” Ryan fibbed. “I asked him what the kids and wife were doing, he asked the same of me. Yeah ... no. Just continuing the emotion from the fight.”
Ryan did get a charge out of the reaction from the crowd, which cheered when the big screen showed him sitting in the box.
“It was cool,” he said, noting that rookie Brady Tkachuk was “fired up” as well. “You can feel that energy in the building ... I didn’t know I was on the screen until I looked up. To have the people excited about something like that, it’s a different part of the game that I don’t do much, so to feel differently about it was fun.”
Has a score been settled now?
“Not for me or (Turris), no,” Ryan said, holding firm to his story. “Nothing needed to be settled, really.”
I don’t believe that for a second.