“I think he’s shown flashes in the past that he can make a play and finish plays, and all of a sudden we asked him to take his game to the next level,” said Jeff Daniels, who coached Shugg in Charlotte last season. “To his credit he did that. He led the team in scoring and he scored 20 goals for the first time in his career.”
Shugg had a rough start to his fourth professional season. After scoring in the Checkers’ opener, he suffered an injury two games later and was sidelined for nearly a month. While an injury that early in a campaign could easily derail a player’s whole season, Shugg recovered and came out on fire, scoring in each of his first four games back in the lineup. The 23-year-old continued his tear, setting career highs with 21 goals and 43 points, often providing the offensive jolt for his squad.
With two CHL Memorial Cups and an ECHL Kelly Cup under his belt, Shugg has proven to be a winner at several levels, but was unable to replicate that success with Charlotte this year. Despite the disappointing result, however, Shugg emerged as an integral part of the team’s core, both on the ice and off, and the experience certainly proved fruitful.
One of Shugg’s biggest contributions was helping shake up a stagnant Checkers power-play unit. For much of the season, Charlotte had little success with the man advantage, finding themselves on pace to set a historically low mark. But when Daniels decided to shake things up and move Shugg to the point, things turned around. With the unit running through Shugg, things seemed to click more, pucks found the back of the net, and the team’s power-play percentage rose considerably. Being able to command that role, one that Chris Terry had filled for the last four seasons, is yet another example of the strides Shugg took this year.
“The power play looked a lot better when we made that move,” said Daniels. “We got to a point in the season when we were willing to try anything. I talked to Shuggy about it and he was all for it if that was going to help the team. I think right away you saw a big difference in the power play because he was a threat to score and shoot the puck, but he also sees the ice real well and is able to make a play. A big difference on our power play was his ability to play quarterback.”
The Ontario native was also one of several Checkers players to earn their first NHL recall and make their debut this season, appearing in three games in December for Carolina. As a fourth-round pick who spent his first two pro seasons bouncing between the ECHL and AHL, that’s a big milestone to crack, and one that is born out of hard work.
“One of the rewarding parts of this job is to call that guy into the office and let him know that he’s going up and playing his first game,” said Daniels. “Guys that have put the work in and may have taken some time to get the chance. It’s always a different reaction. Some guys are able to hide it and seem like it’s no big deal until they run out of the office and make a phone call to their parents or their girlfriend or whatever, and some other guys just break into that big smile. You enjoy telling the guys, and then all of the sudden when you’re watching the games you’re really pulling for them and you’re really watching that guy and hoping he does well because you know how much hard work they’ve put in.”
With improved numbers in each of his subsequent pro seasons, Shugg, who is a restricted free agent, will be looking to take another step in his progress this offseason. Should he return, look for Shugg to find even more comfort in his scoring touch and hopefully bring his winning pedigree to the next level.
