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It’s Tuesday so it must be time to report some signings. The beloved Rampage announced today that wingers Brady Shaw and Brendan Ranford have been re-signed to minor league deals. Shaw signed a PTO last Spring after finishing his NCAA career and Ranford was acquired from Arizona at the deadline.
Shaw, a 6’1 205# wing, spent the last 4 years at UVM and played 6 games for San Antonio at the end of 2016-17. Although he didn’t get on the scoreboard I think he does have that ability but his strongest area is good positional defense. At this point we don’t have a full complement of forwards listed so best guess is that he slots in bottom 6 but could end up on the AHL/ECHL bubble. Shaw’s father Brad played in Hartford with Randy Ladouceur and is now an assistant with Columbus.
Brendan Ranford was drafted out of Kamloops by the Flyers in 2010 and made his pro debut with the Texas Stars in 2013. After a couple of strong seasons for the Stars (and definitely against the Rampage), Ranford’s production dropped a bit last year and he was traded mid-season to Arizona where he spent 10 games with the Tucson Roadrunners. It wasn’t a great fit, he was blanked in 10 games, so Arizona traded him to the Avs for Joe Whitney at the deadline. Ranford finished strong with 4G/13A in 21 games for the Silver & Black.
We’re still looking for some more AHL contracts either prior to or at Rampage training camp. Alex Belzile, Shawn St-Amant and Gus Young are still available and I, along with many fans, hold out hope that Big Sam Henley can return to the Rampage on some sort of deal. Stay tuned.