Philadelphia Flyers‘ undrafted 3rd year right wing, Shane Harper(11) has definitely had his ups and downs in the final season of his three-year entry level deal.
He started the season on AHL affiliate Adirondack Phantoms‘ roster after spending his entire sophomore campaign with the team, scoring a tidy 13 goals and 14 assists in 70 games.
The small-ish 5’10” 187 lbs. forward once again was in the plans for 2012/2013, but stumbled out of the gate and was utilized less in game situations due the overload of NHL players in the fold as the lockout dragged on.
Just after the new year, he was reassigned to ECHL affiliate Trenton Titans to see if he could regain that scoring touch. He spent only a week in the lower league with little to show, when summoned back up as the stalemate in the show thawed and the Phantoms lost a few key contributors.
He was still snake-bitten though, as he has only had 4 goals and 4 assists in 42 games to his credit, along with a -13 plus/minus on a squad that has been struggling to win.
The 24-year was once again sent back to the Titans, but this time flourished in a big way. He put up back-to-back hat tricks in a pair of big wins for a team out of the playoff hunt and was looking to tie a piece of ECHL history with a 3-in-3 performance.
He fell slightly short of the mark in his third attempt, scoring only one goal but adding three assists in another resounding effort. In 12 games, he has an opponent shattering 11 goals and 11 assists. He was a point-per-game guy in his rookie season with Greenville Road Warriors.
If recalled for another crack at keeping his spot through the remainder of the season, he will have to at least come close to duplicating his output.
Heading into restricted free agent status, it would seem likely that the Flyers would qualify him for another year.
