Oilers sign veteran forward to two-year extension

The Edmonton Oilers signed forward Derek Ryan to a two-year contract extension worth $900,000 per season, the team announced Tuesday.

Ryan, 36, was slated for unrestricted free agency on July 1. The deal, which will be subject to 35+ rules given Ryan’s age, could contain performance bonuses for the veteran forward.

The last game of the 2022-23 regular season was Ryan’s 500th, a remarkable feat for a player who didn’t make his NHL until age 29. He did well enough in a bottom-six role for Edmonton, scoring 13 goals and 20 points in 80 games while adding three points in 11 playoff games.

Ryan was born and developed in Spokane, Washington, where he played his junior hockey with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. His numbers there were solid but never spectacular, though, and given his 5-foot-10 height, his play didn’t warrant a draft selection from most NHL teams in the mid-2000s.

He then played a full four seasons at the University of Alberta, where he did dominate the scoresheet, recording 146 points in 109 games from 2007 to 2011. Upon wrapping up his collegiate career, though, Ryan was already 24 and opted to turn pro in Europe rather than taking a minor-league deal.

It ended up being the best decision of his life, producing well over a point per game in three seasons in Austria’s EBEL league (now the ICEHL) before getting some larger market exposure with SHL team Örebro HK in 2014-15. His 60 points in 55 games there, along with a +18 rating, garnered some interest in the NHL free-agent market, where the Carolina Hurricanes snapped him up.

Ryan was then immediately named captain of their AHL affiliate at the time, the Charlotte Checkers, and led them in scoring in his first season there with 55 points in 70 contests. Ryan was then called up to the team full-time early into the 2016-17 campaign and hasn’t looked back since, becoming one of the more stable bottom-six, two-way forwards in the league.

Ryan would have surely found a home on the open market had Edmonton opted not to re-sign him, but he’s one of the most complete and consistent players the Oilers have on their third and fourth lines. Locked in until he’s 38 years old, though, this is likely Ryan’s last NHL contract.