Ryan Segalla

History

2009-10: Ryan Segalla played for the Bridgewater (Mass.) Bandits in the Empire Junior Hockey League. He scored 9 goals with 18 assists and 52 penalty minutes in 41 regular season games and had 1 goal in two playoff games.

2010-11: Segalla participated in the Beantown Summer Classic before skating for the Salisbury School in Connecticut and the South Shore Dynamos U16 midget AAA team. He scored 3 goals with 10 assists as a sophomore for Salisbury and had 1 goal in 11 games with the Dynamos. Segalla was selected by Saint John in the eighth round (144th overall) of the 2011 QMJHL Entry Draft.

2011-12: Segalla skated in 26 games for Salisbury as a junior. Playing alongside fellow juniors Mark Hamilton and Willie Brooks and sophomore Will Toffey, he was part of one of the top defensive units in prep school hockey. Segalla scored 6 goals with 6 assists in 28 games. Salisbury entered the NEPSAC tournament as the top seed but was defeated by Lawrence Academy, which went on to win it’s first title ever, in the semifinals. Segalla was selected by Sherbrooke in the 2012 QMJHL Expansion Draft. In August he committed to playing college hockey at the University of Connecticut in 2014-15.

2012-13: Segalla was a team captain for Salisbury in his senior year as the school captured its first New England Prep School championship since 2009. Segalla scored 10 goals with 8 assists and had 28 penalty minutes. Salisbury defeated Kent, 4-2 in the NEPSAC championship game. He also skated in three games for the Fairfield Blues midget AAA team and had 1 assist with 10 penalty minutes. Segalla was ranked 169th amongst North American skaters in Central Scouting’s final rankings and was selected by Pittsburgh in the fourth round (119th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft.

2013-14: Segalla skated in 34 of 36 games for the University of Connecticut in his freshman season and was the second-leading scorer amongst Huskies defensemen. He scored 1 goal with 13 assists, finishing one point behind junior defenseman Jacob Poe, and was -3 with 47 penalty minutes. Connecticut finished tied with Air Force for third in its final season in the Atlantic Hockey league before moving to Hockey East in 2014-15 and was swept by Robert Morris in a best-of-three playoff quarterfinal series.

2014-15: Segalla played a defensive defenseman role for the University of Connecticut in his sophomore season as the Huskies made the move from Atlantic Hockey to Hockey East. In 31 games he scored 2 goals with 3 assists and was -10 with a team-leading 54 penalty minutes. Playing in the tougher league, the Huskies finished tied with Maine for ninth and were swept by New Hampshire in an opening round series in the Hockey East tournament.

2015-16: Segalla played in 21 of 36 games for Connecticut in his junior season, receiving a one-game suspension for a hit against Quinnipiac and then receiving a team suspension in December. He had 2 assists and was -15 with 24 penalty minutes. The Huskies finished eighth in Hockey East and were swept by the University of Vermont in an opening round best-of-three playoff series.

Talent Analysis

Segalla is a two-way defenseman and is known for his mean streak. He delivers hard body checks, possesses good mobility, and has improved his decision-making skills while skating for the University of Connecticut. Segalla is undersized for an NHL defenseman, particularly given his physical style, and will need to add the strength necessary to play that type of game against older, more physically mature competition.

Future

Segalla skated in 21 games for the University of Connecticut in 2015-16, seeing a reduced role for the Huskies with the emergence of freshmen defensemen Joe Masonius and Miles Gendron (OTT) and sophomore Derek Pratt. A physical defender whose game may be more suited to pro hockey than the college game, Segalla will return to UConn for his senior season looking to earn an entry-level contract with Pittsburgh.