Spencerport native Shane Prince is in his second full season in the National Hockey League. One year after splitting games with Ottawa and the New York Islanders, he now is settling into a regular role.
“It’s a tough league and you can never really get comfortable and take a day off – it’s the best league in the world so it’s always competitive and work and get better every day,” Prince said after a recent game in Buffalo.
Prince had five goals this season with one week to play in the regular season – one off his total of six goals last season in 62 games.
He has already set a NHL career-best with 13 assists. But he has been fighting head, shoulder and ankle injuries this season missing 20 games plus others as a scratch.
“It’s been tough. Obviously you never want to get injured and when you come back, things aren’t always 100 percent and, though you’re banged up, you just try to do what you can to help the team win.”
The 24-year old Prince left the area at 16 years old to play in the Ontario Hockey League with Kitchener. He was then traded midway through his second year to Ottawa where he blossomed offensively scoring 25 goals and 88 points in 59 games after the trade and was drafted in the second round by the NHL-Ottawa Senators.
He followed the next year with 43 goals and 90 points in 57 games before embarking on a three-year American Hockey League journey with Binghamton where his goal and point total increased each season.
After seeing two games and netting his first professional point in a brief NHL call-up to the Senators in 2014-15, he made the parent team in 2015-16 before his trade to the Island.
Other injuries to teammates this season have allowed him to see more minutes and showcase his game in preparation for the future.
“It does a little bit. We have a lot of young guys and a lot of different guys in the line-up due to our injuries and I’m doing the best I can to stay in there and try to hang in there with the injuries.”
He has one year remaining on the two-year $850,000 contract he signed with New York last July.
