Only a couple of months into his sophomore campaign he was sidelined with an upper body injury that limited his 2012/2013 availability to just 24 games for the IceCaps.
In his 2nd minor league deal though, he earned enough respect from the parent club to sign him to a 1-year entry level deal as he was preparing for his third season.
He had a strong year too, scoring a career high 28 goals and 45 points, which was enough to give him a first recall to Winnipeg.
With his first shot on net he managed to pot his first and thus far only NHL goal.
He stuck around for just over two weeks skating 9 games averaging 7 shifts for a little over 6 minutes per game of ice time and was pretty effective in the face off dot.
After being sent back to the minors he continued his strong play and leadership, which carried into the Calder Cup Playoffs (1 goal, 6 assists and a +3 rating) through 21 games leading all the way to the Finals.
His play was good enough to score him an extension for 2014/2015, although he spent the entire time with the farm club posting a new best 26 assists.
The 26-year old was given a qualifying offer to retain his playing rights but ultimately has signed another AHL deal with new affiliate Manitoba Moose.
With more good play the 5th year player could easily have that new contract taken up a level and rejoin the big club but we’ll have to see what happens.