It’s not often you talk about fourth-line players as being key pickups for a team, but since Derek Ryan signed with the Oilers in 2021 as a free agent, he’s been just that. While the team has long struggled to find the right guy to play there for years, Ryan’s continued to provide much stability for the depth of this team.

Last season, much like the prior three, Ryan was an anchor for the team. The Oilers gave up virtually nothing to opposing teams when he was on the ice, with tremendous suppression rates across the board. He won a plethora of faceoffs for the team, and while there’s not much offence left in those hands, there doesn’t need to be.

The Oilers have the firepower in their top-six to score with the best of them, so having the team’s bottom-six be able to saw off the opposition is key. There was some poor luck that came his way with a poor goal share with a low PDO, but that’s something that could rebound quickly.

Ryan himself was dominant on the ice. As highlighted by his HockeyViz charts, he drove offence at a four percent rate above league average, and defence at an 11 percent rate above league average, despite some poor penalty kill results. His results slotted him in as a first-line player, and while he’s certainly not that as a whole, having a player like him impacting the game so significantly in a depth role is a huge win.

There’s more competition in the Oilers bottom-six this year, but Ryan should continue to serve in a depth role for the club this season.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.