Ryan has registered 12 points (three goals, nine assists) and a team-high plus-13 rating in 62 games this season. He leads Sharks rookies in games played, assists, points, and his 98 blocked shots are the most by a Sharks rookie since Marc-Edouard Vlasic in 2006-07. Ryan currently ranks in the top-10 in goals, shots (79), takeaways (14) and plus/minus among NHL rookie defensemen, and leads the league amongst rookies in blocked shots per game (1.6 - minimum 20 games played).
The 24-year-old made his NHL debut on
Oct. 12 vs. Buffalo
, logging 21:24 minutes of ice time. He recorded his first career NHL point with an assist on
Nov. 1 vs. Nashville
. In that same game, he registered nine blocked shots, setting a franchise record as well as a NHL rookie record for most blocked shots in a single game.
Ryan is the first rookie in franchise history to lead the team in plus/minus (minimum of 10 games played). In addition, he became the first player, drafted in the seventh round, in franchise history to play more than 60 games in his rookie season.
The five-foot-eleven, 185-pound native of
Rumson, NJ
was drafted by the Sharks in the seventh round (198th overall) of the
2012 NHL Draft
.
PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD:
2016-17 Kevin Labanc
2015-16 Joonas Donskoi
2014-15 Melker Karlsson
2013-14 Matt Nieto & Tomas Hertl
2012-13 Matt Irwin
2011-12 Andrew Desjardins
2010-11 Logan Couture
2009-10 Jason Demers
2008-09 Tomas Plihal
2007-08 Torrey Mitchell
2006-07 Marc-Edouard Vlasic
2005-06 Milan Michalek
2003-04 Tom Preissing
2002-03 Jim Fahey
2001-02 Matt Bradley
2000-01 Evgeni Nabokov
1999-00 Brad Stuart
1998-99 Alexander Korolyuk
1997-98 Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Andrei Zyuzin
1996-97 Stephen Guolla
1995-96 Marcus Ragnarsson
1994-95 Jeff Friesen
