"I know there's been lots of speculation with Derek coming to Calgary and obviously we were able to finalize the deal," Flames general manager Brad Treliving said. "We think he brings a lot of versatility. He's a right-shot center. One of the things we looked to address this offseason was adding depth and versatility to our forward unit.
"At the end of the year I talked a little bit about us as a team relying on too few of guys to do too many things, to do too much of the heavy lifting. Derek provides us the ability to move up and down the lineup, able to play different positions, touches both sides of the puck, right-shot center who was very proficient in the face-off circle last year … We're excited to bring Derek on board."
Ryan played the past two seasons for Flames coach Bill Peters in Carolina. Peters was hired by Calgary on April 23.
"This is a player we have pursued the last year and a half prior to Bill coming here," Treliving said. "Obviously there's a connection, but this isn't a Bill Peters showing up here and trying to pack Derek Ryan in his suitcase and bring him along. This is a player we've liked. ...
"What [Bill has] told me about him is similar to what we've seen: Touches a lot of the parts of the game. Elite hockey sense. Thinks the game extremely well. And just touches a lot of the parts of the game. Great face-off guy. Can play up and down your lineup. Can play the wing. Can play the middle. Can play on the power play. Can kill penalties … didn't do that a lot in Carolina but has the ability to do that. The versatility, which is something quite frankly we didn't do a good enough job last year in having enough people that we can move around. So Derek gives us that."
Ryan, who was undrafted, signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Hurricanes on June 15, 2015. He has 69 points (28 goals, 41 assists) in 153 NHL games.
The Flames on Sunday also signed forward Austin Czarnik to a two-year contract worth $1.25 million per season, and re-signed defenseman Dalton Prout for one year, $800,000.
