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Derek Ryan (ice hockey)

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Derek Ryan
Ryan with the Edmonton Oilers in 2022
Born (1986-12-29) December 29, 1986 (age 37)
Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Center / Right Wing
Shoots Right
NHL team
Former teams		 Edmonton Oilers
SAPA Fehérvár AV19
EC VSV
Örebro HK
Carolina Hurricanes
Calgary Flames
National team  United States
NHL draft Undrafted
Playing career 2007–present

Derek Allen Ryan (born December 29, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey forward for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

An undrafted player, Ryan played four successful seasons of Canadian university hockey and pursued a professional career in Europe before making his NHL debut at age 29. After being named the MVP of the Swedish Hockey League in 2015, Ryan signed his first NHL contract with the Carolina Hurricanes in June of that year. He played parts of three seasons with the Hurricanes before signing with the Calgary Flames in July 2018.

Playing career

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Ryan started his junior career with his hometown's Spokane Braves of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) from 2002 to 2004.

Ryan played four seasons of major junior hockey (2003–2007) in the Western Hockey League (WHL), again representing his hometown club, the Spokane Chiefs.[1] With limited NHL interest due to his diminutive size, he went on to play four seasons of Canadian university hockey (2007–2011) with the University of Alberta Golden Bears in the CWUAA conference of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). For his outstanding college hockey play, he was named the CIS (West) Most Valuable Player for the 2010–11 season, and was also named to the 2010–11 CIS All-Canadian First Team.[2]

Ryan embarked on a professional career in Europe and made his debut in the 2011–12 season in the Austrian League (EBEL) with Hungarian club Alba Volán Székesfehérvár under head coach Kevin Primeau.[3] After placing third in team scoring with 49 points in 50 games, Ryan was signed to an improved contract with Austrian club EC VSV on July 7, 2012.[4] In his second season in Villach, Ryan lead the EBEL with 38 goals and finished with 84 points in 54 games. He was awarded the Ron Kennedy Trophy as the league's most valuable player for the 2013–14 season.[3]

Ryan in 2013

On April 10, 2014, Ryan moved to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), signing a lucrative contract with Örebro HK.[5] In the 2014–15 season, Ryan's rapid ascent in the professional leagues continued as he became the cornerstone of Örebro's offence and in leading the club to the playoffs, lead the SHL in scoring with 45 assists and 60 points to be selected as the league's Forward of the Year and the SHL Most Valuable player.[3]

Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames

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Earning NHL interest after defying initial size concerns, Ryan signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Carolina Hurricanes on June 15, 2015.[6] He was called up to the Hurricanes in February 2016 and made his NHL debut on March 1 against the New Jersey Devils, also scoring his first NHL goal in the game, against goaltender Cory Schneider.[3] Ryan played two full seasons with the Hurricanes, establishing himself as a versatile forward able to play both centre and wing and who could be counted on to play on both the powerplay and the penalty-killing units. Ryan also established himself as a more than reliable faceoff man; finishing with a faceoff percentage of 55.3% in the 2016–17 season, and 56.48% in the 2017–18 season.

Ryan left Carolina as a free agent to reunite with former Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters in signing a three-year, $9.375 million contract with the Calgary Flames on July 1, 2018.[7] After a slow start to 2018–19 which saw him record only two goals in the season's first 20 games, Ryan managed to find chemistry with wingers Garnet Hathaway and Andrew Mangiapane, with the trio emerging as one of the key reasons for Calgary's first-place finish in the Western Conference.[8] Ryan also finished a close 2nd place League wide in faceoff percentage with a percent of 58.2%, only 0.04% less than Jason Spezza. In the playoffs, Ryan recorded one goal in five games as the Flames lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

Firmly established as the Flames' third-line centre, Ryan continued his strong play into the 2019–20 season – albeit with two new wingers. Hathaway signed with the Washington Capitals in July 2019, with his vacated spot on Ryan's wing being filled by trade acquisition Milan Lucic. Lucic endured a similar dry spell to begin his Flames tenure as Ryan had a year previously; however, the two soon found chemistry on the third line and the second powerplay unit. With Mangiapane moving up to the second line to supplant a declining Michael Frolík, who was eventually traded to the Buffalo Sabres in January 2020, Ryan and Lucic were joined by rookie Dillon Dubé. Ryan scored 10 goals and 29 points in 68 games before the season was halted prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Edmonton Oilers

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Following the completion of his contract with the Flames, Ryan left the club as a free agent, opting to remain in Alberta by agreeing to a two-year, $2.5 million contract with rival club, the Edmonton Oilers on July 28, 2021.[9] On February 26, 2022, Ryan scored his first NHL hat-trick in a 4–3 victory over the Florida Panthers.[10] In July 2023, the Oilers extended Ryan's contract, signing him for a two-year, $1.8 million deal.[11]

Personal life

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Ryan was raised in Spokane by his parents Nancy (who died during Ryan's second season with the Alberta Golden Bears) and Tim. He has one sister. He and his wife Bonnie have a son, born in 2013, and a daughter, born in 2016.[3]

Ryan and his wife are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[12]

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2002–03 Spokane Braves KIJHL 49 26 29 55 24 6 3 5 8 0
2003–04 Spokane Braves KIJHL 49 68 57 125 37 7 5 10 15 —
2003–04 Spokane Chiefs WHL 1 1 0 1 0 4 1 0 1 0
2004–05 Spokane Chiefs WHL 71 14 32 46 39 — — — — —
2005–06 Spokane Chiefs WHL 72 24 37 61 50 — — — — —
2006–07 Spokane Chiefs WHL 72 28 31 59 50 6 3 2 5 2
2006–07 Kalamazoo Wings UHL 3 0 2 2 0 13 1 4 5 8
2007–08 University of Alberta CIS 28 11 14 25 20 — — — — —
2008–09 University of Alberta CIS 25 16 19 35 16 — — — — —
2009–10 University of Alberta CIS 28 14 25 39 30 — — — — —
2010–11 University of Alberta CIS 28 17 30 47 18 — — — — —
2011–12 Alba Volán Székesfehérvár EBEL 50 25 24 49 20 6 1 3 4 6
2011–12 Alba Volán Székesfehérvár HUN — — — — — 5 3 7 10 2
2012–13 EC VSV EBEL 54 27 39 66 22 7 3 8 11 6
2013–14 EC VSV EBEL 54 38 46 84 50 9 2 14 16 6
2014–15 Örebro HK SHL 55 15 45 60 18 6 0 1 1 2
2015–16 Charlotte Checkers AHL 70 23 32 55 24 — — — — —
2015–16 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 6 2 0 2 2 — — — — —
2016–17 Charlotte Checkers AHL 9 5 8 13 0 — — — — —
2016–17 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 67 11 18 29 22 — — — — —
2017–18 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 80 15 23 38 28 — — — — —
2018–19 Calgary Flames NHL 81 13 25 38 24 5 1 0 1 2
2019–20 Calgary Flames NHL 68 10 19 29 10 10 0 2 2 0
2020–21 Calgary Flames NHL 43 2 11 13 16 — — — — —
2021–22 Edmonton Oilers NHL 75 10 12 22 8 15 1 2 3 4
2022–23 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 13 7 20 28 11 1 2 3 0
2023–24 Edmonton Oilers NHL 70 5 7 12 8 19 0 1 1 8
NHL totals 570 81 122 203 146 60 3 7 10 14
Medal record
Representing  United States
Ice hockey
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Denmark

International

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Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2018 United States WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 9 4 3 7 0
2019 United States WC 7th 7 1 3 4 2
Senior totals 16 5 6 11 2

Awards and honors

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Award Year
CIS
All-Canadian Second Team 2009–10 [2]
(West) Most Valuable Player 2010–11 [2]
First-Team All-Canadian 2010–11 [2]
SHL
Guldhjälmen Most Valuable Player 2014–15 [2]

References

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  1. ^ "WHL Alumni spotlight: Derek Ryan". Western Hockey League. October 2, 2010. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2010.</
  2. ^ a b c d e "Profile - University of Alberta". University of Alberta. April 1, 2011. Archived from the original on April 3, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d e Prewitt, Alex (February 2, 2017). "After a non-traditional journey, Derek Ryan finds himself at home with Hurricanes". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  4. ^ "Forward Derek Ryan signs for VSV!" (in German). EC VSV. July 7, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  5. ^ "Orebro unveil four new players" (in Swedish). Swedish Hockey League. April 10, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  6. ^ "Hurricanes sign Derek Ryan". Carolina Hurricanes. June 15, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  7. ^ "Flames sign three players". Calgary Flames. July 1, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  8. ^ Gilbertson, Wes (March 24, 2019). "Flames pass 100-point mark with win over Canucks". National Post.
  9. ^ "Oilers sign Derek Ryan to two-year contract". Edmonton Oilers. July 28, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  10. ^ "Derek Ryan's first NHL hat trick lifts Oilers past Panthers". The Associated Press. February 26, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  11. ^ "Oilers sign forward Derek Ryan to two-year contract extension". The Toronto Star. July 13, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  12. ^ Matisz, John. "Tabasco shots, wild commutes, fewer naps: Yes, faith and hockey can mix". theScore. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
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