Oilers Sign Ryan Shea to 5-Year Deal – Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have signed Ryan Shea to a five-year contract worth $4 million per season, according to Elliotte Friedman.

Shea’s career so far

Shea has had an interesting NHL career. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, but never became a full-time NHLer with the Blackhawks. When the Dallas Stars signed him in 2019, he didn’t become a full-time NHLer. In fact, it took his third stop with the Pittsburgh Penguins to play consistently in the NHL.

As a result, the 29-year-old has just 150 games of NHL experience, spanning the past three seasons with the Penguins. Time will tell how he fares with Edmonton, a very different situation than Pittsburgh.

Shea Out Absent

Heading into the 2025-26 season, not many people think much of Shea. Despite 70 games of experience with the Penguins over two seasons, he had just three goals and three assists for a career average of minus-8. He was a low-level defenseman who came down to the American Hockey League (AHL) a ton, and spent most of his time in the AHL from 2020 to 2023.

However, Shea surprised everyone in 2025-26. He had six goals and 29 assists in 80 games and was a plus-30. He had the second-most points among Penguins defensemen, behind only Erik Karlsson, and his plus/minus led the team with 13.

It’s not like Shea needed a ton of minutes to make an impact. He averaged 18:53 of ice time, which was behind Karlsson, Kris Letang, Parker Wotherspoon, and trade acquisitions Brett Kulak (prior to his trade with the Colorado Avalanche) and Samuel Girard.

Shea was rarely used on the power play, averaging just 16 seconds per game on the power play. However, he relied heavily on the execution of the sentence. He averaged 2:16 per short game, trailing only Wotherspoon among Penguins defensemen.

It was another incredible move by Kyle Dubas to keep Shea’s role intact from last season. Dubas banked on several lower-class signings, such as Wotherspoon, Anthony Mantha, and Justin Brazeau, to round out the Penguins’ depth, and they all exceeded expectations. Shea did, and he, along with all these players, got big paydays.

Oilers Get Relatively Unknown Asset

Beyond that, it’s easy to feel uneasy about how Shea will fare with the Oilers. He was still better at the bottom than the middle.

He was paired with Kris Letang for 571 minutes last season, and according to MoneyPuck, the pair had a paltry 47.9% expected goals percentage (xGoals%). However, when he was relegated to the third team, he and Connor Clifton had an xGoals of 61.7%.