The Edmonton Oilers continue to make signings to prepare for the 2023–24 season, and they’ve tendered their first 35+ contract extension of the year, with the recipient being no other than Derek Ryan. He’ll be with the Oilers through the 2024–25 season.
Ryan stays with the Oilers
The 36-year-old just finished his first two-year contract with the Oilers, where he earned $1.25M per year for the past two seasons. Now, he signs on with a 35+ contract, and will be earning $900K a year for the next two years.
In his first two years with Edmonton, his scoring totals lined up as expected for a bottom-six forward and he’s played that role to perfection. In 2021–22, he played 75 games and scored 10 goals and 12 assists. This past season, he appeared in 80 games and scored 13 goals and seven assists. The bigger change in his stat line was going from a minus-4 to a plus-11 playing alongside linemates such as Devin Shore, Klim Kostin, Dylan Holloway, and more.
Ryan’s major value add comes more on the penalty kill as he’s reliably limited opposing offence whenever he’s deployed with Edmonton shorthanded.
In the Oilers’ final game of the season, Ryan reached the milestone of playing 500 NHL games, where he now stands at 76 career goals and 115 assists. He’ll look to reach the 200-point mark in his next two seasons with the Oilers.
This is a great value contract for Edmonton as Ryan comes in on a cheap contract and is dependable in his role.
Closing out a career
While it’s unknown what Ryan intends for the future, the Spokane product looks like he may be set on finishing up his NHL career as an Oiler. After playing with the University of Alberta Golden Bears between 2007–08 and 2010–11, retiring as an Oiler would make his career go full circle as another undrafted talent that saw major success in the NHL.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
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