Penguins/NHL
Carolina Hurricanes third line center Derek Ryan is another name starting to pop up connected to the Penguins on the rumor mill.
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FROM TSN.CA: [In their quest for a third-line centre to replace Nick Bonino, the Pittsburgh Penguins are believed to be sniffing around on Ryan, a pending free agent. Ryan, 31, is on track for 19 goals and 45 points centreing Carolina’s third line. He is also 11th in the league in faceoff win percentage (56.3) among centres with a minimum of 300 draws taken.
The Penguins could also be interested in bringing back centre Mark Letestu for another tour of duty, although he remains a possibility to re-sign with Edmonton. Fulfilling their biggest need with a relatively inexpensive but effective Ryan or Letestu would allow GM Jim Rutherford to be a player in the Evander Kane sweepstakes. The belief is Rutherford is also seeking a winger with scoring punch for the Pens’ top two lines. Kane, the mercurial Sabres winger, remains atop the Trade Bait board for the fourth consecutive week – and his first-year GM Jason Botterill served as Rutherford’s assistant in Pittsburgh.]
TIOPS Scouting Report
Ryan struggles in his own end against bigger centers, is not a strong player along the wall and won’t win many puck battles. An Eastern Conference scout via text says “[hide]coaches have to find ways to hide him [defensively]” and it’s one reason Ryan hasn’t been a regular NHL player until age 30.[/hide] Ryan, though, is a pretty good skater with some offensive ability. He has 11 goals on the season to go with 15 assists. He has also been a very good possession player this year, 56.8 CF%, and for his NHL career has been above 50%.
Ryan is also a right handed shooter and the Penguins have been very intrigued about adding a right handed centerman to play with Phil Kessel.
On the contract front, Ryan carries just a $1.45 million cap hit and is a free agent at seasons end.
Ryan has been a career minor league player, while also playing overseas. He has appeared in just 121 career NHL games, totaling 24 goals – 33 assists – 57 points and a minus-20 rating.
Ryan’s points/60 this season is 1.99 with his most common linemates being Jeff Skinner and Justin Williams, so there is some intrigue with Ryan being able to play well with talented wingers.
The Skinner – Ryan – Williams line when it has been together this season drove possession at 58%.
Ryan has 9 goals and 8 assists at even strength (5 v 5) compared to Riley Sheahan who has 3 goals and 10 assists during 5-on-5 play.
Some numbers that also stand out:
Derek Ryan
Individual Scoring Chances – 92 [hide] | Individual High Danger Chances – 53[/hide]
Riley Sheahan
Individual Scoring Chances – 54 | Individual High Danger Chances – 23
Sheahan is the better all-around player when it comes to forechecking and wall play, but Ryan would bring more skill, speed and better ability to drive possession to the table.
However, playing Ryan and Phil Kessel together in the defensive zone wouldn’t be a good scene.
How has Ryan matched up against some of the league’s best centers this season?
Head-to-head vs Sidney Crosby
19:39 TOI | 51.5 CF%
Head-to-head vs Evgeni Malkin
14:33 TOI | 62 CF%
Head-to-Head vs Auston Matthews
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9:24 TOI | 51.4 CF%
Head-to-Head vs Mathew Barzal
9:34 TOI | 61 CF%
Takeaway: Early feedback this morning is that Penguins scouts have indeed pin-pointed Ryan as a player the organization has been taking a close eye on since December, but it doesn’t sound there’s been any substantive trade talks to this point as Carolina has not made Ryan available in talks, a source says.
The Hurricanes enter today two points out of a playoff race and the team is a few weeks from deciding which direction they will go. League sources say a mandate from new Hurricanes ownership is not to sell off players if the Hurricanes are realistically still in the playoff hunt. If the Hurricanes decided to sell, Ryan could garner a second round pick because of the lack of centers available.[/hide]
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