Hey everyone it's Dale Murphy here

It's about time for another Dale Murphy report on a once heralded prospect Johnny Shuffleboard. Having just completed his 4th season, we can have a pretty good feel on what Shuffleboard can and has brought to the table thus far in his young career.

Playing for the Forge will always help a player's stats. The Forge have been knocking on the door of the East for all of the past three playoffs, falling twice in the East Finals and once in the East Semis. We'll see how they do this season. However, despite playing for a very good team, Shuffleboard has not shown the strides that we may have thought him to be capable of.

Shuffleboard came into the league heralded for his offensive skill. He has a J season where he put up an incredible 17 powerplay goals. He did not crack the PP at all in his first three seasons in the bigs. And it does seem that his 5v5 scoring was a little non-existent. But his first season he showed us all the promise we thought he had. Shuffleboard as a rookie put up 11 goals, all 5v5, and was not much of a possession drag at all on the team, his Corsi rel a positive, while his Fenwick a negative. But his scoring touch disappeared for the remainder of his young career. He put up just 6 goals as a sophomore while taking around a third of a shot per game less. This was despite playing around an extra half a minute per game. His possession stats were a disaster, a negative 2.4 Corsi, and 3.3 Fenwick. His next season was a tad better, with 7 goals and set a new career high in shots on net, his possession stats both a small positive.

So coming into the season there was a bit of hope that perhaps he would turn the corner. A disappointing run with Team USA at the IIHF marked Shuffleboard's entry into the international world, but had just 1 goal, however his 7 assists led some to believe his passing may help him make his mark for his fourth season in Philly.

So as the 66th game concludes with the Forge taking first place in the league, how did Shuffleboard do? His possession stats reverted back to being nothing, but Corsi rel and Fenwick rel were less than .5% percent, meaning he was around an average player in that regard. His 7 goals seems to be around all that he is capable of. The biggest concern is the lack of a jump from his offense this season. Shuffleboard was able to crack the 2nd PP unit, and you would think the extra minute of playing time that was almost all due to making the second unit would jump start some more offense. Alas, he came up goalless on the PP, with just 5 assists to show for it. His passing was pretty solid on the season, his 33 assists were more points than his first four seasons had total. But this might be all Shuffleboard is, an average defender with limited offensive upside.

While the Forge have their sights set on winning the Cup this season, Shuffleboard is a pending UFA. While there is no reason to think he'll be going anyway, I could see the Forge willing to move on in a few seasons. Shuffleboard's upside appears limited, and while now there is space for him on the Forge, that could change.

Until next time, I'm signing off,
This has been the Dale Murphy report
Brought to you my Pepsi

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