The Canes made a move to improve their depth at forward today, signing free agent Michael Ryan to a two-way, one-year deal.  Although the team thinks he can contribute at the NHL level if needed, he’ll report to Albany for now.

Paul Branecky

Index | Archive

Ryan, a 28-year-old second-round draft pick of Dallas in 1999, played 65 games with Buffalo over the last two seasons, scoring 13 points.

Basically, he’s Matt Murley.  Based on the numbers, they seem like the exact same player, right down to their age, draft position, NHL games played and scoring totals.  Murley is also 28, was drafted in the second round by Pittsburgh in the same year, played 62 NHL games and scored 9 points.  Hands off, KHL!

Also like Murley, Ryan has put up good numbers at the AHL level, most notably scoring 51 points in 50 games two years ago.  He’ll join an Albany squad hurting by the departure of Murley and the recent call-up of Dwight Helminen by the Canes.  The Rats (1-4-1) currently rank last in the AHL with only 13 goals scored through six games.

Ryan becomes the sixth member of the 1999 second round to pass through the Hurricanes organization at some point, joining Murley, Mike Commodore, Brett Lysak, Andrew Hutchinson and Mike Zigomanis.