Nick Shore
By Philip van Riesen
Age: 26 (turning 27 in September).
Role: Nick Shore is among a handful of players competing in training camp for a spot on one of the Toronto Maple Leafs third or fourth line spots.
The Leafs have so many options that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he were to find himself in the press box, despite being probably the best option they have for 4C. Shore has never played power play at the NHL level, but he has a large resume of penalty killing, and is very good at it.
Last Season: Shore played overseas in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) due to no team being smart enough to offer him a contract last summer. Shore played 37 games for Metallurg Magnitogorsk putting up 3 goals, 13 assists and 16 points.
To get a broader understanding of Shore using a larger sample than 37 games, we can take a look at his 2017-2018 season of which he played with three separate NHL teams (Los Angeles Kings, Ottawa Senators and Calgary Flames).
Shore scored 1.12P/60 which is a typical fourth line rate despite having an extremely poor on-ice shooting percentage. Shore also drove play extremely well offensively, and had great defensive impact as well, posting positive results in both RelxG% and RelCF%.
Based off Shore’s past few seasons he is an ideal fourth line centre who is able to drive play very well and tilt the ice in his teams favour, the only noticeable flaw in his game is his weak shot.
Expectations: Shore is definitely capable of playing the role of fourth line centre and penalty killing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Shore’s past performance at both 5v5 and PK proves he is far more than capable of playing fourth line and first or second unit PK.
He should give the Leafs an advantage over the players most other team’s are using on their fourth line.
What He Needs to Meet Expectations: The biggest challenge for Shore is he needs to make the team out of training camp and prove to Mike Babcock he is worthy of a fourth line role,. This will be a challenge given the leafs have signed so many players to league minimum contracts this summer. Other than making the team, Shore simply needs to not take a step back from his previous seasons and he should be able to meet the expectations set for him.