Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea reveals the biggest factor that has led to his breakout season at 28-years-old

The Pittsburgh Penguins came out of the gates hot in 2025/26, and with a record of 14-7-5 through their first 26 games, they've been much better than anyone around the league expected of them.

Obviously, all of the attention on their hot start goes to the duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who both have 29 points in 26 games played, showing that age is just a number for those two superstars.

However, to have that type of success, there must be help coming from other places, with the likes of Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau and Ryan Shea all putting up incredible starts as well.

The latter is on pace for career highs across the board, with 2 goals and 10 points through 26 games being career highs already, and with 56 games remaining, he's going to have the chance to put up some big numbers.

Now, he's revealed exactly how this breakout campaign has occurred after he appeared in 70 games across the last two seasons, noting that experience has helped him find his patience at the NHL level.

At this point, it's highly unlikely that Shea ever becomes a point-per-game player, but as a solid second or third pairing defenseman, if he can keep up this production, he'll be very valuable at the top level for the Penguins.