From late February through the first week of March, Ryan Shea felt as if he was playing some of, if not the best hockey of his professional career.
Pittsburgh Penguins management was certainly impressed, as on March 7, president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas extended Shea through 2025-26 at an average annual value of $900,000.
At the time, Shea was thriving after being promoted to the Penguins’ top defensive pairing next to Kris Letang, offering solid play while setting new career highs in ice time.
However, only two days post-extension, Shea broke a finger on his left hand, which ultimately sidelined him for just under three weeks.
The contract extension coupled with the on-ice momentum he was riding made being out of the lineup a tough pill to swallow.
“My confidence was at an all-time high,” Shea said. “You get rewarded by playing with (Letang) and good minutes in all situations, so it was pretty tough timing. It took me a couple days to get over it because as a competitor, you want more ice time. You want to earn the coaches’ trust and your teammates’ trust.
“I was less concerned about the actual broken bone and more concerned about being able to contribute.”
Shea has since returned to action for the Penguins, skating in a pair of games heading into Thursday night’s puck drop in St. Louis against the Blues.
However, as he’s re-entered the lineup, it’s been in a somewhat limited fashion compared to the role he was enjoying next to Letang.
In Shea’s final game pre-injury March 9, he averaged a career-high 24 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time.
On March 27, his first game back, Shea skated on the third defensive pairing with Vladislav Kolyachonok, a contest that saw the Penguins dress 11 forwards and an extra blue-liner.
His time on ice that night was 11:55, followed by 14:04 three nights later in his second post-injury game.
With only a few weeks left in the regular season, Shea aims to get back to what he showcased before breaking his finger.
“I definitely don’t have any goals, numbers-wise, but I just want to be happy with my game when the year ends,” Shea said. “I don’t want it to be, ‘I had a good game.’ I want to put together seven good games so I can go into the summer with my confidence high, knowing that I left the coaching staff, management and teammates in a good light.
“What’s fresh to them and what’s recent will be this last stretch. Hopefully I can play my best hockey coming up and go into the summer ready to work.”
Coach Mike Sullivan admitted that Shea, since rejoining the lineup, has been shaking off a bit of rust and reacclimating.
But Sullivan appreciates how Shea conducts himself.
“I think his intentions are in the right place,” Sullivan said. “He’s a competitive guy. Maybe the biggest thing that I like about Ryan is he has some moxie. If he makes a mistake or it doesn’t go his way, it doesn’t affect his next shift or two or three or next period. He has the ability to rebound off of a mistake or something that happens out there. I think that’s such an important aspect of being a good player in this game.
“It’s a game of mistakes. Everybody makes them and how you react to those is critically important to your ability to have success moving forward. It’s a certain mental toughness or a resilience that, I think, quite honestly, is required to be an effective player in this league. Ryan has that.”
On the whole, Shea has plenty of reasons to be satisfied with his 2024-25 campaign, the second he’s spent in Pittsburgh.
Regardless of his usage or time on ice for the remainder of the year, Shea has already set new career-bests in games played (23), points (five) and minutes (16:40).
Plus, signing an in-season contract extension represents a significant achievement for Shea, originally an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Stars out of Northeastern University.
“Definitely super excited about it,” said Shea, who turned 28 in February. “The last two summers, it’s kind of been a long wait until July 1 and the start of free agency, so going into the summer knowing where I’m going to be, in a place I’m comfortable, I can just get to work and not have to worry about anything else.
“That’s the No. 1 thing for me and the fact that the coaching staff and management sees me and was able to give me that contract, I’m super grateful for that. It was a weight off my shoulders.”
Prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh, Shea grinded in the American Hockey League for parts of three seasons before signing with the Penguins and earning an NHL roster spot out of training camp the last two years.
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In Year 1 with the Penguins, Shea navigated frequent shuffling between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL, in addition to being placed on waivers in December of 2023.
But this season, Shea, while at times a healthy scratch, took steps towards establishing himself as a full-time NHLer, spending the entirety of the campaign with the Penguins.
Shea may head into the summer with the added peace of mind and security of already being signed for next season, but he doesn’t plan on changing anything upon arriving at preseason camp next September.
“Every year, you’ve got to come into camp ready to go and no matter who you are, you’ve got to want to fight for your spot,” Shea said. “I think my mindset there won’t change no matter how many years I play or what (contracts) I sign. My attitude and outlook will never change as long as I’m playing.”