Oilers Sign Ryan Shea to 5-Year Deal

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

Shea’s Career Thus Far

Shea has had a fascinating NHL career. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, but he didn’t become a full-time NHLer with the Blackhawks. When the Dallas Stars signed him in 2019, he still didn’t become a full-time NHLer. In fact, it took his third stop with the Pittsburgh Penguins to actually play consistently in the NHL.

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

Shea Came Out Of Nowhere

Heading into the 2025-26 season, not many people thought much of Shea. Despite 70 games of experience for the Penguins between two seasons, he had just three goals and three assists with a career minus-8 rating. He was a fringe bottom-pair defenseman who went down to the American Hockey League (AHL) a ton, and he 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 by 13.

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

Shea was seldom used on the power play, averaging just 16 seconds per game on the power play. However, he was very relied upon on the penalty kill. He averaged 2:16 per game shorthanded, trailing just Wotherspoon among Penguins defensemen.

It was another spectacular move by Kyle Dubas to keep Shea’s role mostly intact last season. Dubas banked on several lower-tier signings, like Wotherspoon, Anthony Mantha, and Justin Brazeau, to round out the depth for the Penguins, and they all exceeded expectations. Shea did as well, and he, along with all of these players, received big paydays.

Oilers Get a Relatively Unknown Commodity

Despite that, it’s easy to feel uneasy about how Shea will work with the Oilers. He was still better on the bottom pair than the middle pair.

He was on a pairing with Kris Letang for 571 minutes last season, and according to MoneyPuck, the two had a paltry 47.9% expected goals percentage (xGoals%). However, when he was brought down to the third pair, he and Connor Clifton had an excellent 61.7% xGoals%.