Tales of a First-Round Nothing: My life as an NHL Footnote

Selected eighth overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1995 NHL draft, Ryan seemed designed for greatness and a long career. Instead he was a self-described "flop," a player whose career was marked by injuries and catastrophically bad decisions. A decade later, he was a former NHL player; today he plays senior hockey for "three figures" a week. The author provides a stream of wry anecdotes, which offer snapshots of his life as he evolved from a promising recruit to a has-been, from a callow young man to a contented family man. Many people might be embittered by such a turn of events, but Ryan takes a more positive approach; he may have played just eight games with the Canadiens but he did have an NHL career. Not someone to bitterly obsess over "if only," Ryan acknowledges his own role in the set-backs that beset him while celebrating the genuinely good consequences of his career and its aftermath, not least of which is his marriage. With forewords by NHL veteran Arron Asham and singer-songwriter Jim Cuddy of the iconic Canadian band Blue Rodeo, the work is sometimes unpolished but genuinely endearing. (May) Agent; Brian J. Wood