Ryan Shea #5 of the Pittsburgh Penguins defends against Max Sasson #63 of the Vancouver Canucks during the first period of their NHL game at Rogers Arena on January 25, 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Photo by Derek Cain /Getty Images
This in from TSN hockey analyst and former NHLer Ray Ferraro, his enthusiastic review of Edmonton Oilers free agent signing Ryan Shea, 29, the former Pittsburgh Penguins d-man.
Ferraro's Assessment
“They signed Ryan Shea, another guy that I watched a lot this year, last couple of years,” Ferraro said on the Ray & Dregs podcast. “When Mike Sullivan was a coach in Pittsburgh, the way their defense was structured, Shea was a third pair right side defenseman. And he was okay. He did fine. He’s a good skater, he’s big, covers a lot of ground. And then they changed coaches, Dan Muse comes in, he moves Shea to the left side, his natural side, and he just took off. He’s better than people would know. He’s not a big point guy, but he can move the puck. He can defend, he can kill penalties, he’ll close plays. I think he’s a real stable guy for them. I like that.”
My Take
1. Ray Ferraro is known for three things: being a fine NHL attacker in his day, being an outstanding NHL commentator for many years now, and not pulling any punches recently when it comes to criticizing the Edmonton Oilers. So when Ferraro gives a positive review of an Oilers signing, I put a ton of weight in that. I’m relieved to hear such enthusiastic praise for Ryan Shea from such an astute hockey analyst.
2. I have an acutely Oiler-centric view of hockey, putting all my effort into assessing Edmonton’s own players through video review. When it comes to other NHL players on other teams, I generally don’t have a credible opinion, not having that kind of work. So when the Oilers signed Shea, I was glad that the move so highly praised in the hockey analytics community, but that group isn’t always right, and it’s also the case that 60 per cent of the significant free agent d-men the Oilers have signed in the salary cap era of the league, 2005 to 2026, have failed to work out for the Oilers.
3. The Oilers have nailed it a few times with free agent d-men. In the above average to good signings category, I’d put John Klingberg, Cody Ceci, Tyson Barrie, Andrej Sekera, Kris Russell, Justin Schultz and arguably Sheldon Souray, who had one killer year here. But most of the free agent d-men that the Oilers have signed have not worked out, including some major money deals with Kurtis Foster, Mark Fayne, and Nikita Nikitin. Those signings have left me cautious about judging any deal until I’ve seen the player in 15 or 20 Oilers games myself.
That said, Ferraro is an astute judge of hockey players. His assessment aligns with what the numbers guys say about Shea. That’s encouraging, to say the least.
