Ryan O'Byrne

Lore & Background

O'Byrne was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia and attended St. Michaels University School. After playing two seasons of junior in the BCHL with the Victoria Salsa and Nanaimo Clippers, O'Byrne opted to play U.S. collegiate hockey at Cornell University. Prior to his freshman year at Cornell, he was drafted in the third round, 79th-overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2003 NHL entry draft. In his sophomore season of 2004–05, O'Byrne helped Cornell regain the ECAC Championship with a 3–1 win over Harvard before losing in the West Regional Final to the University of Minnesota. In his junior year, O'Byrne entrenched himself as a top defender within Cornell's ECAC leading defence corps to be selected as a First Team All-Ivy player. Despite missing nearly a month to injury, O'Byrne led all Big Red defenceman with 7 goals and 13 points in 28 games and was named in the All-ECAC Third-Team. O'Byrne was selected by Cornell Coach Mike Schäfer as an alternate captain, but decided to forgo his senior year to begin his professional career signing a two-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens on August 9, 2006.

After attending his first Montreal training camp, O'Byrne was assigned to American Hockey League affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs, for the 2006–07 season. As a stay-at-home defensive-defenseman, Ryan produced 12 assists in 80 regular-season games with the Bulldogs. During the playoffs, he scored his first professional goal, which clinched the series over the Rochester Americans, advancing the Bulldogs to the Conference Semi-finals. In the Championship Final, he then produced his second game-winning goal a game three win over the Hershey Bears en route to claiming the Calder Cup. In the following 2007–08 season, O'Byrne made his NHL debut, recording two assists, in a 4–2 victory over the Boston Bruins on December 6, 2007. Ryan missed a month of the season after suffering a broken thumb, before returning to health and scoring his first NHL goal in a 6–4 defeat to the San Jose Sharks on March 4, 2008. He finished the season, while splitting time between Hamilton and Montreal, to finish with 33 games.

O'Byrne was then re-signed to a three-year contract with the Canadiens on July 16, 2008. He made the Canadiens opening night roster for the 2008–09 season, appearing in 37 games for five assists, with two stints in the AHL. In his second game of the 2009–10 campaign with the Canadiens, Ryan suffered a knee injury causing him to miss 20 games. Upon his return, O'Byrne established himself as a regular within the defence corps. On December 4, 2009, he changed his jersey number to 20 due to retiring of the number 3 in honour of Emile Bouchard for the Canadiens Centennial celebrations. Similar to Ray Bourque's homage to Phil Esposito in Boston, Ryan wore the number 20 jersey underneath his number 3 jersey and as a surprise, unveiled his new number during the banner hanging and presented Bouchard his jersey as a token of being the last to wear the number 3 for the Canadiens. O'Byrne finished his first full NHL season, appearing in a career high 55 games and 13 post-season games as the Canadiens reached the Eastern Conference finals.

Reader's Guide

O'Byrne's NHL career spanned six seasons with three teams, totaling 308 regular-season and 25 playoff games. He was primarily a stay-at-home defensive-defenseman. His most notable tenure came with the Montreal Canadiens, where he played a career-high 55 games in 2009–10 and appeared in 13 postseason games as the Canadiens reached the Eastern Conference finals. He was the last player to wear the Canadiens' number 3 jersey before its retirement for Emile Bouchard, and he presented Bouchard with the jersey during the centennial celebration. After being traded to the Colorado Avalanche in November 2010, O'Byrne recorded a career high in ice time in his first game with the team. He was later traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in April 2013, scoring his first goal as a Maple Leaf on April 8. His last NHL game was the Leafs-Bruins Game 7 on May 13, 2013, in which the Leafs surrendered a 4–1 lead in the third period and lost 5–4 in overtime. After leaving the NHL, O'Byrne played in the KHL for HC Lev Praha, helping the team advance to the Gagarin Cup finals, then in Switzerland for HC Ambrì-Piotta, and in Sweden for HV71. He retired in 2016 after a ten-year professional career. Off the ice, O'Byrne founded the Ryan O'Byrne Charity Camp, an annual five-day hockey camp for 60 children aged 9–12 in Victoria, BC, with all proceeds donated to KidSport Victoria. Several other NHLers from the area volunteered at the camp. After retiring, O'Byrne returned to Cornell University to complete his undergraduate degree, then earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He worked as a Brand Manager at Gatorade before joining digital physical therapy startup SWORD Health.

Did You Know?

• O'Byrne was the last Montreal Canadien to wear the number 3 jersey before its retirement for Emile Bouchard.
• O'Byrne earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University after retiring from hockey.
• His final NHL game was the 2013 Game 7 between the Maple Leafs and Bruins, where Toronto lost a 4–1 third-period lead.