Derek Ryan played his first two games in the American Hockey League this past weekend after clearing through waivers last week.
The 38-year-old forward has already begun to produce with Bakersfield Condors. In his debut, he recorded an assist on a goal scored by Matt Savoie on the powerplay, helping the team secure a win 4-2 over the Henderson Silver Knights.

In his second game, Ryan scored his first goal with the Condors, netting a one-timer from a cross-ice pass by Seth Griffith, and they would win that game in a shootout 3-2 against the Toronto Marlies. After the win, <a href="https://www.bakersfieldcondors.com/video/postgame-ryan-on-3-2-so-win/">the veteran pivot expressed his thoughts and approach regarding being sent down</a>. The forward believes his time with the Edmonton Oilers isn&#8217;t over yet. He understands he can provide value and positively influence the prospects on the farm team.
<blockquote>&#8220;I tried not to have any of the sour attitude that can come with that from some guys. It is what it is,&#8221; Ryan said. &#8220;I think I&#8217;m going to be up back with the Oilers at some point. I think I can help them. But at the same time, I think I can help the Condors here in Bakersfield, and I have a job to do here, so I&#8217;m just making the most of it and can&#8217;t focus on what&#8217;s too far in front of me, just focusing on what I can do each and every day, there&#8217;s a lot of great guys here, a lot of great players.
I&#8217;m an older guy, a veteran guy. I can be a leader and show the younger guys what it takes to be a pro. I&#8217;ve been a pro for a long time. Nobody wants to be around the guy who&#8217;s coming down here and is sour and thinks he&#8217;s better than everybody else. I&#8217;m just trying to carry myself in the same way I have the last nine years in the NHL and doing what I can to help the team win.&#8221;</blockquote>
That attitude and mentality helped Derek Ryan play over 600 NHL games after making his debut at the age of 29. <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/derek-ryans-unexpected-but-amazing-nhl-career">Jason Gregor spoke with him earlier this season about his unexpected but amazing NHL career. </a>
Nearly 10 years later, he knows where he is at this stage of his career and explains his plan while with the Condors.
<blockquote>&#8220;At the age of 38, I can&#8217;t add too many more layers,&#8221; Ryan admitted. &#8220;But that&#8217;s also part of my story, that I&#8217;ve been able to add layers as I&#8217;ve gone on every kind of step of the way.&#8221;</blockquote>
For Ryan, as a player, it&#8217;s currently about honing the skills at which he excels. He wants to improve on the faceoff dot, be sound defensively, and work on various situations so that he can be ready whenever called upon by the Edmonton Oilers.
He&#8217;s embracing the mentorship role but has found a way to stay motivated whenever that call comes.

Derek Ryan played his first two games in the American Hockey League this past weekend after clearing through waivers last week.

The 38-year-old forward has already begun to produce with Bakersfield Condors. In his debut, he recorded an assist on a goal scored by Matt Savoie on the powerplay, helping the team secure a win 4-2 over the Henderson Silver Knights.



In his second game, Ryan scored his first goal with the Condors, netting a one-timer from a cross-ice pass by Seth Griffith, and they would win that game in a shootout 3-2 against the Toronto Marlies. After the win, <a href="https://www.bakersfieldcondors.com/video/postgame-ryan-on-3-2-so-win/">the veteran pivot expressed his thoughts and approach regarding being sent down</a>. The forward believes his time with the Edmonton Oilers isn't over yet. He understands he can provide value and positively influence the prospects on the farm team.
<blockquote>"I tried not to have any of the sour attitude that can come with that from some guys. It is what it is," Ryan said. "I think I'm going to be up back with the Oilers at some point. I think I can help them. But at the same time, I think I can help the Condors here in Bakersfield, and I have a job to do here, so I'm just making the most of it and can't focus on what's too far in front of me, just focusing on what I can do each and every day, there's a lot of great guys here, a lot of great players.

I'm an older guy, a veteran guy. I can be a leader and show the younger guys what it takes to be a pro. I've been a pro for a long time. Nobody wants to be around the guy who's coming down here and is sour and thinks he's better than everybody else. I'm just trying to carry myself in the same way I have the last nine years in the NHL and doing what I can to help the team win."</blockquote>
That attitude and mentality helped Derek Ryan play over 600 NHL games after making his debut at the age of 29. <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/derek-ryans-unexpected-but-amazing-nhl-career">Jason Gregor spoke with him earlier this season about his unexpected but amazing NHL career. </a>

Nearly 10 years later, he knows where he is at this stage of his career and explains his plan while with the Condors.
<blockquote>"At the age of 38, I can't add too many more layers," Ryan admitted. "But that's also part of my story, that I've been able to add layers as I've gone on every kind of step of the way."</blockquote>
For Ryan, as a player, it's currently about honing the skills at which he excels. He wants to improve on the faceoff dot, be sound defensively, and work on various situations so that he can be ready whenever called upon by the Edmonton Oilers.

He's embracing the mentorship role but has found a way to stay motivated whenever that call comes.

Derek Ryan embracing mentor role in the AHL, believes he’ll be back with the Oilers

Recent articles from Woz

Breaking News