Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0
Ryan Shea
Edmonton Oilers Defense #6
A fourth-round pick who spent six years in the minors and then, at twenty-eight, played eighty games and was plus-thirty.
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 80 | 6 | 29 | 35 | +30 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 8.3 | 18:53 |
| Career | 150 | 9 | 32 | 41 | +22 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 108 | 8.3 | 17:02 |
Last Season
Six goals and 35 points in 80 games for Pittsburgh, plus-30, on just under nineteen minutes a night. For a player with 150 career games to his name at the start of it, that is a genuinely surprising season.
The Finesse Game
The numbers say a puck-mover and the usage says a second-pair defenseman, which is not what anyone projected for him. Thirty-five points from a player who takes no power-play time means it came at even strength, off breakouts and second assists rather than from anything flashy.
He is a good enough skater to defend the rush and to retrieve under a forecheck. Nothing about his game is spectacular; the value is in doing the simple things at NHL speed without hesitating, which is precisely the skill that keeps career minor-leaguers in the minors.
The Physical Game
Six-one and 200, which is average for the position now. He defends positionally rather than physically and is not going to punish anybody in front of the net.
The Intangibles
The honest caveat with a season like this is that plus-minus flatters a defenseman on a team that controlled play, and a single strong year at twenty-eight is not the same as an established level. He has done it once.
The upside is that late bloomers of this type — sound, simple, unafraid — often hold their level for years once they find it. Edmonton is paying a depth price to find out.