WJC Preview: Drew Shore

[duballstar014]

Don't you love this time of year? Snow has blanketed the ground and Christmas is in the air. Naturally, hockey is the prime focus for us junkies and there's something to always keep an eye on in late December. I'm talking about the World Junior Championship, showcasing many of the top draftees from the previous two years and even a couple upcoming hopefuls. Some of you might know every stat line of each player and know exactly who you want to follow. For many others, you might be more focused on your current NHLers and just keep an ear out to the hype of the WJC. If you do that, you'll likely catch a few names here and there, but it's all reactionary. If you don't really know anyone other than just a name, it's hard to get excited about watching these games. Most likely though, if you had a little bit of background info, you wouldn't be too opposed to watching a player and making up your own mind about him. That's why I'd like to talk to you for a little bit about U.S. forward Drew Shore.

Before I get started, I'll tell you that Shore is #15 for the U.S. and you can find his schedule right here (all games will be broadcast on NHL Network):

Sun, Dec. 26, 2010 - Finland vs USA 8pm EST
Tues, Dec 28, 2010 - USA vs Slovakia 8pm EST
Thurs, Dec 30, 2010 - Germany vs USA 7pm EST
Fri, Dec 31, 2010 - USA vs Switzerland 8pm EST

The first thing you should know about Shore is that he has a good attitude. He’s humble and will give credit to his teammates instead of praising his own play. As with many young stars, he has also had a lot of amateur experience. Shore grew up in Colorado, then moved to Vancouver at 13 to further his hockey career, while living with Drayson Bowman and his family. He moved back to the States and skated with Honeybaked before landing a home with the US National Development program. Shore was lucky enough to get tournament play at 17 and 18 yrs of age and he made the most of it. Shore took home a U17 WHC Silver Medal in 2007-08 and a U18 WJC Gold Medal in 2008-09.

Entering the 2009 draft, hopes were high for the Shore family to have Drew drafted in the first round. When the Florida Panthers saw the 6'3", 190 lb center available in the 2nd round though, they couldn't resist, taking him with pick #44. Florida management has shown some serious frustration with their roster over the last 2 seasons, so despite the fact that Shore has a laundry list of prospects in his way (Santorelli, Matthias, Repik, Dadonov,Bjugstad, Howden, Jenks), his future still should be bright. If you don't know what I'm talking about with Florida management, may I remind you of the 2008-09 Panther Promise? Florida missed the playoffs that year and decided to swallow their pride and try again in 2009-10. When that wasn't on the horizon, they issued this letter just before the trade deadline. I'd say if you turn enough heads, they're willing to give you a shot.

That brings me back to Shore’s experience. Shore played for his country at age 17 and again at age 18. He tried out last season, but was cut, and here he is at 20, back on the worldwide stage. In 13 tournament games, Shore has 5 goals and 11 assists. He also has the aforementioned silver and gold medals. In terms of confidence, he couldn’t have more right now either. After being drafted by the Panthers, Shore began his collegiate career with DU, and didn’t perform as well as he’d hoped, scoring only 19 pts in all 41 DU games. It’s not easy playing D1 hockey as a freshman for the #1 team in the nation (for most of the season) though. If you want to take a positive, here’s one: 2 of Shore’s 5 goals were game winners. In the upcoming offseason, Shore hit the gym hard and turned a corner, already posting 25 points in only 20 games (3 GWG). He was actually just named the NCAA player of the month for November too. Read between all of these lines and you should be able to decipher that Shore will be an impact player for the US of A and anything short of gold or silver will likely be a disappointment (this team is after all defending champs with the highly touted Jack Campbell in goal).

I touched on it shortly above, but there's one thing that should have caught your eye if it didn't already. Shore has the build of an emerging power forward. He needs to add weight (much like people said about JVR), but it's common knowledge that young power forwards flat out take longer to develop. Consistency is often an issue and Shore has not escaped that stereotype yet. Each step that he makes (from college to AHL to NHL) will take some adjustment, but eventually he'll get there. One good thing to focus on is that people have spoken highly about his ability to play defense (usually rare for a young forward) and his attitude which is extremely positive.

It’s yet to be seen how long he will remain in college, but the safe bet is to expect Shore to graduate from DU (2 more years), then move on to the AHL and work his way up. If I were a betting man, I’d guess Shore leaves after his Jr year, but what do I know? Florida has a lot of highly skilled prospects and they don’t really have a franchise forward as of now, so there will definitely be opportunities for Shore.

If you do watch some USA games, keep an eye on Shore and you also might want to keep an eye on 2010 Florida first round pick Nick Bjugstad, who will be in direct competition with Shore for a roster spot in Florida. I’d expect Shore to take at least 3-4 years before seeing regular NHL time and in his prime I see Shore scoring about 60-70 points with a large amount of hits. He hasn’t played in many leagues where fighting is encouraged, so that’s not really a part of game, at least not yet. When he goes pro, this may change, but for now look at him as a power forward who knows how to score, knows how to win, and knows how to throw his weight around. He will eventually be a guy that teams want on the ice in key situations.

So over the next few days, sit back, relax, and try to catch a US game and make up your own mind about this Drew Shore kid. Maybe you agree with everything I’ve said and you have a new prospect to follow or who knows, maybe you think what I say is completely erroneous and you want to yell curse words at me. Either way, you’ll have made the decision up for yourself instead of reading an article and taking someone else’s opinion.

[Wfactor]

very solid read, keep em coming Dub!
the title caught my eye cause i own Shore in 1 of my keepers, so ive always wondered when i can expect him to come up , cause i always feel like hes been a prospect for so long

[Esquire]

Another good read. Thanks, Dub. Go red, white, and blue.

[duballstar014]

Thanks fellas. There's going to be so many good players to watch, you never know what will happen. I figure if you're not one of the die-hard guys who knows everything about every 17-20 year old kid not in the AHL or NHL, this would allow you to not do any HW on a kid and still put together a solid scouting report. Shore has done extremely well in the international tournaments so I expect good things from him again. Sadly, he's a little too far away for me to stash on any of my prospect systems, but he's still worth a look I'd say.

[Rajiabu]

Wanted to bring up Drew Shore and see if there is any recent happenings going on. I own the kid and would like to get an insight on when he will arrive

[duballstar014]

Drew played very well this year for Denver, leading the team in scoring as a sophomore. I haven't heard much talk about him signing a contract so I'll assume he goes back to college for at least another year.

Even if he did sign an entry level contract, he'd almost certainly be in the AHL the coming year and how quickly he lands in the NHL would depend on the AHL performance.

If I owned Shore I would certainly be hoping for him to sign a pro contract this offseason, but I don't know if it'll happen. Typically the college players sign their deals close after the NCAA season ends if they're going to sign at all.