He's a great feel good story and I'm glad to see him having personal success- but he never felt like he was that effective a player. Made smart plays with the puck and put up some respectable points, but just didn't have the strength to do anything when anybody put the slightest bit of muscle into him. There were many times when you could see him trying to make the exact right play but he just couldn't push through a stiff arm to do it- he could make a very clean, perfect check on the boards right when and where he needed to, but the attacking forward wouldn't even notice and wouldn't slow down one bit. He was trying, he just couldn't.
I haven't watched him much in Edmonton, so maybe that's changed, but then again, maybe Edmonton, where there's no expectation of physical or defensive effectiveness, suits a player like Ryan who's not really physically or defensively effective even as much as he genuinely tries to be. I don't think he can play the role a Stepan replacement really needs to play away from the puck.